


Idols

by TrisPond



Series: Tsukihina Fics [8]
Category: Haikyuu!!
Genre: Alternate Universe - Idols, Family Issues, Fluff, Idol Hinata Shouyou, Idols, Jealous Tsukishima Kei, M/M, Panic Attacks, Singing, Social Media, Team Mom Sugawara Koushi, Teasing, idol tsukishima kei, past Miya Atsumu/Hinata Shouyou
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-02-11
Updated: 2020-05-22
Packaged: 2021-02-28 02:21:35
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 15
Words: 42,733
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/22666189
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/TrisPond/pseuds/TrisPond
Summary: Hinata and Tsukishima are idols, members of the very known Karasuno group. That doesn't mean that they get along well (in fact, Kei wished that he didn't have to see Hinata every single of his life and the same goes for him). But none of them can figure out why their fans keep shipping them and things only get worse when Hinata end ups confessing that he thinks Tsukishima is hot during an interview.Hinata blushed. The worst part of it all was that if he needed to be honest, Tanaka waswrong.Tsukishima wasn’t the hottest of the group - oi, did you see Suga or Daichi? - but he was pretty high on that list, he had to admit, even higher than himself. Saltyshima had the height, the hair, the unique face and even the body. There was no way that Tanaka could surpass him on that thing specifically (but he nailed in every other). Still, Hinata would die before he admitted to anyone anything related to Tsukishima and beauty… again.
Relationships: Hinata Shouyou & Kageyama Tobio, Hinata Shouyou & Kozume Kenma, Hinata Shouyou/Tsukishima Kei, Kozume Kenma/Kuroo Tetsurou, Kuroo Tetsurou & Tsukishima Kei, Tsukishima Kei & Yamaguchi Tadashi
Series: Tsukihina Fics [8]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1815940
Comments: 105
Kudos: 411





	1. Tsukishima is hot

**Author's Note:**

  * Translation into Português brasileiro available: [Ídolos](https://archiveofourown.org/works/22898893) by [AkiraSugahara (TrisPond)](https://archiveofourown.org/users/TrisPond/pseuds/AkiraSugahara)

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thanks very much to Kosho, for being my beta on this!  
> So, I did a little bit of research on what idols lives are like, but as I’m not the most familiar with it, I took the liberty to change some things, though I see Karasuno as a special group anyway because here they helped the old Ukai Entertainment get back on business and the company itself is different from the others. So it's like a mix from my Disney expectations and the reality.  
> Cross-posted on Fanfiction.Net and Social Spirit, in Portuguese.

Tsukishima likes to sing. But most of the time, he doesn't like being an idol.

He supposed that he should love all his fans for their support, for allowing him to be where he is and all of that. And he did like most of them, but some of them he just couldn't stand.

The most annoying thing was when they acted as if they knew him, as if he was some kind of best friend to them, even though he had never seen them before.

Right now, he wants to scream while a fan asks him if it is true that he loves Hinata. Her eyes are even shining, showing him that she is one of those shippers that really think that it's going to happen someday (and live eternally frustrated).

He wants to ask why she would even ship it. Why in the world made people think that he and Hinata could possibly be a couple? A good choice?

They could barely stand each other, spending as little time together as possible considering they were part of the same group and literally lived in the same apartment.

Except for his direct family, he only could think of two worse people to be shipped with: Yamaguchi, because it would be like incest - he was his brother in all but name, for Christ's sake -, and Kageyama, that bastard. (Okay, maybe four, because he truly pities the poor souls that would end up dating Kuroo and Bokuto). The point was that it would never happen.

He didn't know what she hoped to accomplish by asking him that. Even if he did secretly date someone, he would never share this with some random fan.

But he knew what would happen if he just told her what he thought. So, instead, he smiled. He denied and offered to take a picture. She gladly did and dropped the subject.

xxx

Karasuno was doing an interview and things should be simple, but life hated Hinata.

He was expecting the same questions as always, but didn't include those types of questions.

It started innocently enough, with the host asking if he had his eyes set at someone (Hinata gave his trained answer: his only love was his fans, that his work didn't let him have time for it). Then he had asked if it wasn't possible to find love at work, leaving him truly stupefied.

"What do you mean?" Hinata answered nervously, feeling Suga's disapproving look.

"I heard some rumors about you and another member…" he stopped, to add suspense.

Great, who was it this time? Maybe Noya? They had gone out just the two of them.

"Tsukishima," he finished.

Hinata wanted to laugh. Not this again.

To be fair, if you were an idol long enough, you would know that it was fair game to the fans to ship everyone with anyone. One time, Hinata had to explain that the girl he was hugging was his direct cousin, almost a sister, and not some lost lover. But still, Tsukishima? Why everyone insisted on them?

Their "pairing" wasn't even the most popular that involved Karasuno members (it had stayed behind SugaDaichi, AsaNoya, Kagehina - yeah, that was him - and TsukkiYama), but it did seem to capture the loudest and crazy fans. It has barely made 2 months since a fan faked a deathly ill to wish for him to say that he loved Tsukishima. The boys still had it recorded.

"There's nothing like that going on," he commented happily, forcing himself to be nice.

"So, can you say something about those photos?" asked the reporter that Hinata had already forgotten the name.

Hinata cursed himself as he looked at it. He remembers very well the moment it was taken: Tsukishima was just being his normal self and making fun of him, but because he had hit a soft spot, Hinata had blushed as he heard his words. He could see why anyone would think something different from what really was, but it made him sick.

"I can," Tsukishima interrupted and Hinata knew it wouldn't be anything good. "He was just telling me what he loved about me," he smirked and, God, how Hinata hated him. Why they were stuck in the same group, again?

Tsukishima thought it was annoying to have people believing he would fall so low to actually have anything with Hinata, but still, it was better than the people who shipped him with Yamaguchi, the guy that was his best friend.

And he could at least make fun of Hinata, a little bit. The boy deserved it for being so annoying and troublesome, always jumping to things and never using his head. Yes, he had a great voice and he danced so well, but he was an idiot.

"Oh? What did you say you loved about Tsukishima?" the interviewer jumped at the chance, not noticing how Nishinoya and Tanaka could barely stop themselves from laughing and even Suga had a mischievous gleam.

Hinata knew he was fucked. He couldn't say nothing or the media would go crazy on him, but if he said anything good nobody was going to let it live down.

"Han… he… he is really talented! And…" shit, Ukai was going to skin him alive if he ever saw this. "He is very smart, you know? He knows things about space and science. He's really hot too," damn, that was still too weird, but it was too late now, he had already said it.

"Thank you, Hinata. You're so talented too," Tsukishima said in his most fake annoying tone. He put his arms on his shoulders to grab him and then whispered in his ears: "Not as much as me, of course, shrimp. And I always knew you thought I was hot".

Hinata looked at him annoyed, how could someone be so full of himself?

Kageyama sent unsure looks at their way, as if deciding if he should be worried or amused. But he soon got distracted by the rest of the questions. Karasuno nailed that interview.

xxx

Hinata knew they would be getting some response as soon the interviewer with the Tsukishima-is-hot-incident got on the air, but he didn't expect this much.

The number of fans who seemed to ship them doubled and it was already starting some wars on their fandom - especially with Kagehina and Tsukkiyama fans.

Hinata normally didn't care whom his fans shipped him with - there was so much cool stuff about him and Noya - but how could they think there was something going on through him and one of the worst people he knew?

And now their fans went crazy, trying to guess what Tsukishima had said to him, most thinking that he was praising him. As if Hinata would even care.

"Hinata, are you coming down to eat?" Tanaka shouted, probably from the kitchen. Just as Hinata was about to reply, he added: "Or do you want to wait for Tsukishima? Or I will be enough? I'm hotter than him, anyway," he said.

Hinata blushed. The worst part of it all was that if he needed to be honest, Tanaka was wrong. Tsukishima wasn't the hottest of the group - oi, did you see Suga or Daichi? - but he was pretty high on that list, he had to admit, even higher than himself. Saltyshima had the height, the hair, the unique face and even the body. There was no way that Tanaka could surpass him on that thing specifically (but he nailed in every other). Still, Hinata would die before he admitted to anyone anything related to Tsukishima and beauty… again.

"Shut up! I'm coming," he yelled back.

He rushed to the table, eating as fast as possible to try to avoid the mean duo, but to no avail. Tsukishima and Yamaguchi joined them before he ended up eating his natto, looking every inch of the idol they were, already changed from their daily run. If it was anyone else on the group, Hinata would be worried that he had lost some memo of an event, but those two almost always dressed up well.

"Well, it appears that my fan has followed me here," Tsukishima said in his usual tone.

Hinata rolled his eyes, knowing too well the comment was for him. That wasn't even a good one.

"Of course, because it is not like I actually live here, oh, and wait, I'm on the same group," he said sarcastically.

"One fate I'll regret to the rest of my life," Tsukishima said honestly, not worrying about any pain that it might infect. He really had no happy feelings in ending up on the same band as someone so annoying, energetic and dumb.

"Tsukki!" Yamaguchi pleaded. It was too early for his best friend to pick up a fight, not that that had stopped him before.

Hinata was just about to throw an insult back, not even remembering the food anymore, when two more people appeared.

"Are you guys done?" Suga interrupted, making them all shut up instantly.

"Where's Kageyama? He didn't wake up yet?" Daichi inquired, making them all look to Shōyō.

Hinata sighed. He wanted to know why he ended up being the one responsible for waking Kageyama up. Maybe it was the fact he was the only one who actually didn't have the fear of dying while doing so (well, except for Tsukishima - but that had turned out in one hell of a fight and he was due forbidden of ever coming that close of Kageyama's bed again - and Tanaka, who had made the boy even scarier than usual for the rest of the day).

"I'll go," he said, hearing Tsukishima saying his usual insults about Kageyama.

xxx

Just his luck, they were doing another interview and once again he was placed next to Tsukishima. Though, this time, Shōyō suspected that the TV wanted to use the discussion that was going through the fandom harder than ever to their favor.

His suspicious only got bigger when on the couple challenges, he was paired up with Tsukishima.

Daichi and Suga had only finished having a short of a dance competition with Ennoshita and Tanaka, when the host of the show said something about knowing that Tsukishima and Kageyama were good with a bow and arrow (how the press even found out about this sort of thing?) and invited them to do a mini competition. She said that Hinata and Asahi should join them to see how much they could handle with a partner.

They went to the appropriate place, with Hinata cursing himself for not having listened closely when Takeda-sensei had said that they would all be doing this type of thing today. It had been so many years since he had even thought about bow and arrow, and he was never the best before.

Nevertheless, the thought that at least taking Tsukishima down with him would be fun.

They positioned themselves and the blonde bluntly asked Shōyō if he knew how to do it. Not wanting to admit the truth, he only nodded. Needless to say, he wasn't pleased when he first missed his tag.

Asashi got his wrong too, apparently too nervous to be holding a weapon. Kageyama hit him with scary precision. Tsukishima scolded.

On the next round, even Asahi hit it, making Hinata the only one who got it wrong. He got frustrated with himself, but more with Tsukishima superior expression.

"Oh, I know what is your problem," Tsukishima teased him. "You're too short to do this".

"Shut up, Saltyshima," Hinata shot back, angry. He was trying.

Oh, no. He said that on the front of the cameras. There was no way that their fans would just let it slide and Ukai wouldn't care about it enough to negotiate with the canal to cut it out.

"I'll pay you back," he promised.

Hinata thought he had never been that afraid, at least, after the incident where he had ended up falling on Kageyama in the middle of a dance.

xxx

Sometimes, Kei hated life. He hated being famous.

This was one of these days. If he was normal, nobody would care what name he was called. Instead, #saltyshima was the number one trend on Twitter the day the stupid program went public.

Tsukishima was not even a bit happy. Thankfully, he had a lot of time to plot his revenge in ways that wouldn't involve him getting arrested or kicked out of Karasuno.

He didn't think it would actually be this easy. But only two days after the terrible Saltyshima trend, he had more than twenty pictures of Hinata that could make even his most beloved fan crinkle their nose, he looked so ugly on those. He posted the first one with the hashtag _1perday_ , a promise to post even more ridiculous photos.

He had heard the first scream not even 10 seconds after, it looked like Hinata saw his post. He smiled.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Please note that I truly don't have anything who ships Tsukishima x Yamaguchi, I just put here like that bc I thought that this would be what I think Tsukishima would think.


	2. Natsu

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Natsu visits her brother.

Hinata felt like a free man. It was so good to wake up knowing that Tsukishima had stopped posting ugly pictures of him.

For an idol, Hinata didn't care much about his appearance. Still, this didn't mean he wanted to see his worst possibly photos ever posted. Or answer his fans that yes, this was the payback for the Saltyshima thing.

But it's not so good to wake up late. He had to run faster than he usually did to be able to get back at the house before Ukai arrived.

"Good morning boys," their manager said. "It is almost time to go. Ready to record a new success?"

"It will be great," Takeda agreed.

At least, this day would be actually about music and not about their image. It had been so long since they had recorded anything at all. Hinata didn’t know who would be more glad to have a new music: himself or Karasuno fans.

  
xxx

This would be the first time that Natsu was going to hear her brother while he recorded. Her mother and her father couldn’t make it to Tōkyō, though, and she tried to follow the instructions that her brother had left.

She managed to get to the company where her brother was supposed to be recording a new song with his group. She felt relieved immediately, she still had her luggage with her and it was so heavy.

“What can I help you with?” the receptionist said as she got closer to him.

“Hi!” Natsu replied nervously, she wasn’t really so used to something so fancy. “I’m Shōyō’s sister. Hinata Natsu. Sister of the guy in Karasuno,” she hastily added, even if most people already knew who her brother was, only from speaking his name.

“Ok. I need to see your ID,” he replied.

She opened her handbag and started looking for it, only to realize that her ID wasn’t there. She probably lost on her way. She tried to explain it to him, already feeling stressed.

“I can’t interrupt Karasuno’s recording just because someone claims to be their family,” the guy said, making Natsu hate him a little.

She couldn’t believe it. She had come all the way here, to not see her brother. She was alone. What would she do? What if she didn’t find him? Where would she stay?

She didn’t mean it, but she started to cry. After all those months hoping she would see her brother again, to be stopped only because she was dumb enough to not having any document with her.

“What’s going on here?” a familiar voice reached Natsu ears, though she couldn’t quite place who he was.

Only know she realized she was crying in public and felt even worse. She was a big girl.

“Oh, Tsukishima,” the man looked terrified of seeing him there. “You see, this young girl is claiming to be Hinata Shōyō's sister, but she has no way to prove her identity or even has a visit scheduled here”.

“Nee-chan said he would do it,” she protested.

The so called Tsukishima looked at her and for a moment she could understand why the other man had been so afraid, he really was scary, with those analyzing eyes. But then he smiled a little as he seemed to focus on her hair and she could feel safe again.

“What’s your name?” he asked gently.

“Hinata Natsu,” she replied.

He smiled, as she had got some great questions right. It calmed something inside her and she used her hand to wipe away the tear from her face.

“I’m happy to meet you, Natsu. I’m Tsukishima Kei, a friend of your brother,” he said. “Let’s get you out of here,” he said, then turned to the receptionist. “She really is Shōyō’s sister, so I’m taking her to meet him. You can put her under my responsibility,” he said.

The man nodded, happy to have someone else take the blame if anything happened. He gave her a visit card and wrote her full name on the list.

“Let me get this for you,” the guy named Tsukishima said.

She hesitated for a second before giving him her luggage, keeping only her handbag. She felt better right away.

“Let’s go,” he said, then seeing her afraid face, he offered his arm to hold. She took it, embarrassed from seeming like such a kid, but her emotions were all over her.

“Your brother sings in the same group as me,” the Tsukishima said. “Do you want to hear some stories about him?” he offered. She agreed.

xxx

Hinata couldn’t shake the feeling that there was something wrong, something that he was forgetting. He didn’t know what it could be, since Kageyama was by his side, thus, he hadn’t forgotten to wake him up. He also knew the entire lyrics of the song he was recording today, even Nishinoya and Suga’s parts.

He wasn’t actually doing anything right now, because they were going over through others parts of the song. Him, Tsukishima and Ennoshita had been allowed to ward off a bit, but he didn’t want to.

Then in the middle of Kageyama’s part, it suddenly hit him. Today was the day Natsu would come to visit him! Oh, crap, he had forgotten his own sister. Was she okay? Where was she?

He stormed out of the room, asking to take a break, and informed the situation to Daichi who understood his anxiety and alerted Suga.

She must have already arrived. She said she could meet him there, but what if she got lost? If something bad happened to her, he wouldn’t forgive himself. She was just a kid.

“Nee-chan!” an excited voice said.

Hinata turned around, relieved to finally see his sister. He had been looking for hours (minutes)! He blinked twice as he realized the person who was by her side, looking happy for once. What was Tsukishima doing with his sister?

“Sho, he helped me,” she said excitedly, then proceeded to explain the whole thing. “It was so scary, but Tsukishima helped me a lot,” she repeated. Blushing, she said to him: “Thank you”.

“Don’t mention it,” he said dismissively, still holding her things. He had actually had fun telling Natsu stories, though he would never admit it.

xxx

It took a few more hours before they were officially free to go home. The song was starting to sound good, but not nearly enough to be considered finished. They would have to go back to record it, not to mention the other songs.

Natsu watched through it all, only now and then stopping to pay attention to use her phone. She knew her brother was cool, but it was so good to see him singing! He looked happy too.

She hadn’t expected the attention she got from his friends, just from Tobio. But all of them went to talk to her as soon as they were done and she loved it. She was still laughing from Tanaka’s story when Shōyō called her to take her to his home.

She just wished that Tsukishima would play with her too. He had been much quieter now then when he was helping her.

“You’re not coming?” she asked, when she realized that he had stayed at his place and hadn’t moved to come home with them.

“Not now,” Kei smiled. “I have to practice some more,” he explained.

She felt disappointed, but nodded. At least Tobio would go with them.

Hinata smiled.

“Come on, it’s time to go,” he said gently.

xxx

It was late when Tsukishima finally arrived home.

Hinata waited for him, not caring about how tired he was (it hadn’t been easy to pass the day in the studio, and even less so play with Natsu the rest of the day). He was the only one up, Natsu was using his bed to sleep peacefully.

“Thank you for helping my sister today,” Hinata said. He didn't know what he would have done if Tsukishima wasn't there.

"It was nothing," he shrugged it off.

He knew he wasn’t the nicest guy, but he could never let alone a little girl crying when he could do something to help. Besides, Natsu seemed like a nice girl, smart, but not asking too many annoying questions.

"She was really scared," it was guilty on Hinata’s voice. He knew he should have insisted more to pick her up, she was a child, after all. "Let me thank you, I will cook you some food," he offered.

“You don’t need to,” Tsukishima replied, surprised. He hadn’t done it because he was expecting something, after all.

Hinata smiled, ignoring him and grabbing the ingredients. It didn’t take him long, too used with the movements.

He talked the entire time he was preparing the food and Kei was truly skeptical. He had never heard anything about Hinata knowing how to cook. He knew that sometimes him and Suga disappeared in the kitchen, coming back with an amazing meal, but he had always suspected that this was his friend doing.

Yet, he knew he would eat even if it tasted like garbage. This was the first Tsukishima was eating a food made for him that wasn’t prepared for his family or someone who had to do it, not that he would say anything out loud.

“There you go,” Hinata said, putting the plate right in front of him. “I know that you usually eat this and I didn’t want to risk Ukai and Shimizu-senpai killing me for breaking your diet”.

Kei truly appreciated it. He closed his eyes, enjoying the taste. It was so good.

“Did you like it?” Hinata asked with raised eyebrows when Kei finished in minutes.

“Where did you learn to cook?” he asked instead, unwilling to be that nice to Hinata.

“Well, I can do other things besides singing,” he said smugly.

This was Kei’s time to raise his eyebrows. Basically all he knew about Hinata came from his obsession with music. He was always talking about it, singing, or dancing to imaginary songs. It was one of the things that made him so annoying.

Not just once or twice Kei had caught him watching movies about a singer or a band. Hell, there was one time that he had seen him crying with a drama about wanna-be idols.

“Oh, shut up,” Hinata said.

“I didn’t even say anything,” Kei protested.

“Yeah, but you made plenty clear what you were thinking,” he replied, annoyed.

Hinata knew that if you took out the singing, he wasn’t the most talented guy out there. But really, he had a life besides that… Mostly.

That was why he didn’t like Tsukishima. The guy could even stand to be sympathetic for one hour? Maybe this was a mistake, after all.

xxx

Hinata was surprised to found that when he woke up the next day, Kageyama had already left his room. He could count on his hand the times that he had left his bed on his own free will.

He had climbed out of his own bed, surprised to see Natsu wasn’t with him. He opened his door as fast as he could, almost crashing on Kageyama, who seemed to be on his back to his own room.

“Your sister is already up,” Kageyama informed him.

That explained it. Natsu loved him and on his own way he loved her too (it wasn't easy to say, but he smiled way more and he seemed unable to tell her a no).

“And you look terrible,” he added.

Hinata shrugged. His priority had been find his sister, not to win a beauty contest.

"Hey, Kags? Do you want to go with me as I show around to her?" Shōyō asked. He knew she would like to go out and Kageyama could help him if they started getting too much attention.

"Sure, why not?" he said, before locking himself on the room.

Hinata went to the living room and found Natsu playing video game with Tsukishima, watched by an amused Yamaguchi.

He smiled softly, totally caught up in the cuteness of the moment. How could someone as rude as Tsukishima have the patience to pay one so much attention to a little girl? He didn't know how much time he stayed there, just watching them. He only came back to reality when he heard Asahi and Suga voices.

"NATSU," he said excitedly as if he had only walked up there. "Did you sleep well?"

"Yes! You're a good pillow," she said giggling.

"You… humph," he threatened but he was getting red. "Do you want to go out today? I will show you around Tōkyō," he offered.

"Yes!"

"Kageyama is coming too," he said.

She made a mini dance, celebrating. He laughed, knowing too well that Kageyama was one of his friends she liked the most.

She didn't know him too well, but she had liked him since they first met and the fact that their mother treated him as son helped too. She had decided that he would be her second brother, for whatever reason.

“We’re coming too,” interrupted Suga simply.

She looked at Kei. He nodded. She smiled.

(He would die before admitting but he had fun).


	3. It has to be him

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> This time, it's Tsukishima who says the "wrong" thing.

Kageyama missed Natsu. She had gone back to Miyagi after spending a few days with them.

(This time, though, they all covered for Shōyō so he could travel to take her back in the train. He even got to say hi to his parents).

He had yelled at Shōyō for forgetting her on the first place. He had been so mad to think that something bad could have happened. He only calmed down when the other shouted back that he knew she was coming too and he didn't remember, which was true.

It had made him happy having her around these days and it kind of makes him wish he had a sister too. Even if it was hard taking care of someone, there was still something peaceful about it.

"You only care about yourself," he remembered Kindaichi saying to him when they were still trainees.

It was true. Kageyama had only wanted to make a name for himself, to be the best idol ever. He didn’t care about other people, about what they might be feeling, as long as he could sing perfectly.

He was still like that when he met Oikawa and Iwaizumi. And of course they hadn’t got along well. They fought so much it had been concerns about whatever they could fit together in the same group and even before their debut, Kageyama had left.

But it hadn't been true for so long. Especially since Hinata came into his life, he had learned that there wasn't much sense in singing well if there was nothing to say. He had slowly started to understand what it was to care about someone else and be happy even if there's absolutely nothing happening to you.

All the other boys had helped him too. Karasuno was his family now and he couldn't remember anymore a time when Suga wasn't there to listen to whatever problem he had, when Daichi couldn't fix anything in the world.

Not to say, Nishinoya laughed so easily that it was almost impossible to be down next to him. Tanaka scared him a little but he was so loyal. Ennoshita would have his admiration forever for being able to more or less control them.

In a weird way he would even miss Yamaguchi and Tsukishima’s teasing.

If he was a different, a better person today, it was thanks to them.

He had been surprised, though, with how well Tsukishima had been treating Natsu too. Hell, he even saw him smile. It seemed he wasn’t the only one affected by the little Hinata presence.

“Hey, idiot,” Hinata’s voice interrupted his thoughts. “Stop daydreaming, it’s time to sing”.

xxx

After three days doing nothing but recording, Ukai had declared that they needed a pause. Why that somehow meant they should do another interview, Kei wouldn’t be able to guess.

But there they were anyway, all dress up and smiles. This time, though, it was a live show.

“So, we all know who Hinata think is hot on Karasuno,” laughs could be heard and Hinata looked very red. “But what about you guys?”

“Suga!” Daichi’s reply came so fast that even the reporter was stunned.

“Daichi,” Suga replied, blushing. “But the others are pretty too,” he admitted.

“ASAHI AND TANAKA!” Nishinoya screamed.

“BRO! I’m so touched! You’re hot too,” Tanaka said, smiling.

“Noya,” Asahi said quietly. “Tsukishima and Kageyama are handsome too,” he said.

“I don’t know about hot, but Suga and Kageyama are the prettiest ones,” agreed Ennoshita.

Kageyama seemed stunned at how much praises he was getting, even if he shouldn’t be surprised. He had fans that were called then next generation of Oika-girls (also known as Oikawa’s Tooru fans) and one of the many reasons for it was his beauty.

“It’s weird to think about them like that, but I think Shōyō stood out a lot,” said Yamaguchi, shyly.

“Well… there’s one member left,” Suga teased. “Be a good boy, Tsukki, and tell us”.

Then Tsukishima looked at Hinata and thought, _why the hell not?_ , the fans would go crazy with this answer. He liked to watch him getting angry at all the shippers and being unable to do anything.

“Hinata,” he smirked when the boy seemed to have trouble breathing: “I’m sorry, Yamaguchi, but it has to be him,” he said dramatically, just to be sure the Internet would have something to talk about.

Hinata looked surprised at him, he honestly didn’t know who Tsukishima would choose, but he was certain that it wouldn’t be him or Kageyama. Yeah, he knew that he only said it to mess with him, but it didn’t change how strange it was to hearing Tsukishima admitting out loud that he was hot.

xxx

**IS TSUKISHIMA CHOOSING HINATA OVER YAMAGUCHI?**

I know. Since the start, we all ship our precious Yamaguchi with Tsukishima, and it is one of the most popular ships (though tsukkikuroo fans would argue differently), but themselves had denied multiple times that they have anything besides friendship and more and more material recently has been pointing it out to another ship. Yes, Tsukihina shipper, this is your time to shine.

Though they are on the same group, Tsukishima and Hinata didn’t interact that much before - in fact there was some theories that they actually hated each other (see the link) - but in the last couple of weeks, they were spotted couple of times being chatty with each other and seemingly teasingly. There were blunt confessions too. I decided to post the most important ones to you guys and decide if this ship is actually happening or if it's just them being friends.

REASONS WHY TSUKIHINA IS HAPPENING:

  1. “He is really talented! And he is very smart, you know? He knows things about space and science. He’s really hot too” - Hinata talking about Tsukishima in an interview.
  2. The saltyshima thing - Well, you can’t deny Hinata’s creativity with nicknames for Tsukishima (and it really blew up on twitter).
  3. Tsukki’s #1perday or the very ugly pictures he took of Hinata - though all the pictures are indeed ugly (sorry hinabae, I still love you), I never before have seen Tsukishima so dedicated to his social media before.
  4. The picture that Hinata’s sister posted with Tsukki - yes, it could be a normal thing if she had posted a photo with anybody else from the group, but not even Kags (Hinata’s best friend) got one, so she must really like Tsukishima.
  5. “It has to be him” Tsukki also thinks Hinata is hot - so they both think each other is hot, what more can I say?
  6. Tsukishima was caught smiling with Hinata several times (if you’re his fan, you know how hard it can be. Kuroo, from Nekoma, even made a challenge about it)
  7. Hinata has this soft look every time he faces Tsukki - proof 1, 2 and 3 for you



REASONS WHY IT’S NOT HAPPENING

  1. There’s no evidence they even went as far as hugging
  2. Hinata has had a lot more "gay" moments with Kageyama or Kenma (from Nekoma) and the same could be said of Tsukishima with Yamaguchi and Kuroo (damn, they really like Nekoma)
  3. It’s not even confirmed if they’re gay or bisexual or whatever
  4. In fact, there is a rumour that Hinata is dating Yachi Hitoka



xxx

The next day. Hinata sang happily. This was his favorite song from the new album. It was catchy but it was also more deep than usual.

He really liked this part of his job. He had come here to sing after all, to see if he could touch other people with music too.

He wasn't excited to have to learn new choreography, though he liked to dance, he always took a bit longer to learn it.

He got closer to Tanaka and they started to sing together their parts.

"Hey, Tsukishima!" he called as they left the record cabin "What did you think about the song?"

He shrugged. This wasn't his favorite one. It wasn’t terrible, just annoyingly happy (thinking about it, it reminded him of Hinata).

"It was good," he answered only, moving a little bit so a girl could pass between them.

"Do you think I sounded a bit off?" Hinata asked. "You were good, but I think my _la_ still doesn't feel right".

“Let me hear it again and I will help you,” Kei said, not willing to share his opinion without closing pay attention.

Hinata smiled.

“Oh? I didn’t think I would see the day you would offer help,” he teased.

“Shut up, I’m only doing it for the group, idiot,” he lied without thinking twice.

“So you do love Karasuno”.

Kei almost replied that he never said he didn’t, but he didn’t want to give Hinata that satisfaction. He just rolled his eyes.

But he did love Karasuno. Maybe not Kageyama and he couldn’t exactly say he loved Hinata either, yet he loved the rest of the group. Suga and Daichi had truly become something alike his parents and he trusted them more than anyone else on his life (except for Yamaguchi).

Karasuno wasn't the worst group to be a part of. He had fun with them and it helped him when the pressure became too much. He also knew that he was better with them.

xxx

Karasuno Fight   
@kayanew   
GUYS I JUST SAW HINATA AND TSUKISHIMA! I THINK IM GONNA DIE AND THEY WERE TALKING ABOUT THE NEW MUSIC AND HINATA ASKED FOR TSUKISHIMA OPINION, like I just heard they talking to each other in real life??  ❤ 523 25 minutes ago 


	4. The panic attack

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Kei and Hinata have an unexpected experience.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> WARNING: This chapter contain explicit description of a panic attack.

Tsukishima couldn’t breathe. He tried to calm himself down, to think about something else. But all he could do was think about how small the place was and how he couldn’t leave.

“Hey, Kei?” he heard a voice but he couldn’t focus on it. “Let’s count with me”.

He didn’t reply, because the words made no sense. Right now, all he could think was that everything was wrong, it was bad, he wanted to get out, he had to, but he couldn’t.

Why is it was so hard to breathe? Where did all this pain come from?

“One, five, eight...” the person started. “Say it with me, okay?” Hinata said.

Slowly, the numbers started to reach his mind. His mind understood that something was quite not right with the unusual order of the numbers. The pattern looked like it was random.

“Are you feeling better?” Hinata asked, after a few minutes.

Tsukishima couldn’t answer, so he just nodded. He still felt like crap, but even this was a million times better than before, now he could at least focus on his surroundings. He still felt bad, but not more like dying.

He remembers now what had happened. He just went with Hinata to the mall to buy some things the group was needing and everything had been fine, with him throwing his usual insults at the redhead until the lift had come to a stop but the doors hadn’t opened.

He had pressed the help button, and the assistance said it would take at least 30 minutes for them to get it up again. He knew everything would be alright, but he couldn’t help but think of the last time it had happened. It had taken him hours to get out and he only managed it because his brother was going crazy after him and now there wasn’t an Akiteru around anymore.

That made him think about his brother and how bad things were between them, and why couldn’t he just forgive him? They would stay like that forever? Why does his brother lie to him? He wishes everything was fine, but it wasn’t and it would never be…

His thoughts only got worse from there on. And if he had the time to stop thinking about it, he would figure out that it would lead him to a panic attack. It wasn’t his first time having those, anyway.

Snapping out of his thoughts, Tsukishima noticed now that Hinata Shōyō had only witnessed him at his worst. It was something that usually would bother him so much, with only Yamaguchi having seen this side of him, yet now he was so far gone that he didn’t care. He didn’t have the energy for that.

“Why numbers?” Tsukishima asked, instead.

Counting numbers was never the thing taught to do when panic attacks happened, Tsukishima knew it because he had already read all about it. He didn’t like to feel weak or out of power, so of course he had researched it, trying to find a way to be in control himself.

“Oh, this is something that Natsu used to do with me. She’s really young, you know, so when I had my first panic attack near her, she tried to say a lot of things to calm me down and the only thing that worked was this,” Hinata said, not even a bit ashamed of offering that private information.

Tsukishima smiled. Only Hinata chose from a non indicated technique when there were several known, such as grounding, to help someone who was having a panic attack.

“First?” he asked. “Do you always have those?” he asked. Somehow, he never thought the so positive ball of sunshine would have such dark thoughts that lead to something as drastic as that.

“Oh, not anymore… I, er, used to have them when my father left,” he confessed, making Tsukishima even more surprised. He never knew Hinata didn’t live with his father. “But it got much better after I saw a therapist and talked about things, you should try,” he suggested.

Usually, Tsukishima would make fun of any of Hinata’s opinions of how to take care of himself. Now, he knew he was right, so he just nodded.

“Do you want to talk about it?” Hinata asked, hesitantly.

Tsukishima’s refusal was ready, however something made him want to share a lit bit of the reason with Hinata. Maybe it was the fact that he was handling it so much better than he had expected or how he hadn’t freak out, maybe it was even that he had shared something personal about himself.

“I have these from time to time. It isn’t frequent, but still happened so much that it is easy to recognize one when it’s happening,” he said, then paused. He adjusts his glasses, seeing Hinata’s attentive face. “I think… it has to do with my family,” he finally said.

He knew he couldn’t blame his brother for all his problems. Akiteru had always tried to be a good big brother for him, helping him out when his father was so busy with work that he completely forgot about him or when his mother was so lost with her paintings that failed to notice his bad mood.

But that didn't erase everything his brother had done, how he had hurt him. Kei would never be able to trust him again, so what was the point? Besides, he didn’t want to rub it in his brother's face that he had managed to be an idol and he didn't. He knew that every time they met, Akiteru was reminded of his own failure, and this wasn’t what the younger wanted.

Instead of pushing the topic more, Hinata just agreed, probably feeling that there was no point in asking anything. Kei was glad.

“Families can be messy,” he said. Then he smiled. “Don’t think that I’ll forgive you for being a jerk, though,” he joked around.

“Then don’t act as I care about what you think of me,” Tsukishima said, smiling a little.

And as if nothing happened before, they went to their usual conversations, with the blonde remarking all the time how he thought that Hinata and the King were dumb and the other replying that he was terrible, unsupportable. The only thing different is that words didn’t feel as heavy anymore, just playful.

They were in the middle of a discussion about Nekoma - apparently Kuroo was annoying Kenma because Kei hadn’t replied to his last text - when the doors finally opened. Tsukishima closed his eyes, not used to the sudden light, but gladly opened them again to see that they finally were able to get out.

There were some people there, a security and two techniques, it looked like. Hinata was talking to him, but Tsukishima didn’t even try to listen. He was too relieved to even get into an argument with the mall about their irresponsibility.

He felt even better when he reached the mall floor. Now he was free to go anywhere and he felt slightly better.

“Sorry, boys, for your trouble,” the security apologized once more, though Kei wasn’t in the mood to hear him.

“It’s okay,” said Hinata. He was just glad that they hadn’t been recognized, the last thing they needed was the media asking about this.

They then started to walk away, silently. Unlike usual, it was a comfortable silence, and Hinata felt strangely peaceful for someone who has literally locked seconds ago - it was just that, he was so happy to see that the tension had gone from Tsukishima’s face.

“Come on, we still have a lot of things to do,” he said, grabbing Tsukishima’s arm. And just this once, he let the small boy guide him around, feeling something akin to warm for having him there.

xxx

After the events of earlier, it wasn’t a surprise when Hinata woke up in the middle of night after a bad dream with his father leaving him again (which was ironic, because there was no way that he could leave them if he wasn’t even there to begin with).

His room seemed too cold, too dark suddenly. He didn’t want to be there. That made him get up and go to the kitchen, hoping he could somehow get ridden of this strange feeling. Kei had beat him to it, though.

Hinata almost wanted to laugh at how dress up Tsukishima looked even in the middle of the night. But he looked as tired as him and if he had to guess, he would say he hadn’t slept at all.

He choose to not question why he was sitting on the table instead of the chairs. After all, he did look tranquil there.

“Fancy meeting you here,” Hinata said.

Tsukishima turned to him, surprised, then he relaxed as he saw who it was. He didn’t want to deal with anybody else right now, not even Yamaguchi. He had thought that his panic attack earlier wouldn’t affect him by now, but even his sleep hadn’t been able to drive away his family voice from inside his head.

“Do you want hot chocolate?” Shōyō asked.

He used to do one for his sister whenever she felt bad. He himself hadn’t one in years, because the rigid diet that he was on didn’t allow. He missed it so much. He knew he shouldn't be offering and was sure that Kei would refuse.

However, Kei nodded. He knew he shouldn’t, really shouldn’t, he could even hear Shimizu's voice complaining with him as she did every time the boys got out of line. But he had one hellish day and he was still feeling pretty shaken by everything.

Hinata started to prepare his drink, glad to have something to occupy his mind.

“Does anybody else in the group knows?” he asked, because there was no way that Tsukki could have kept something like that to himself when he had gone through trainee. It was too much stress to not break in front of others.

“Yamaguchi, Suga and Daichi,” he admitted.

He didn’t like that that many people knew. But he found comfort in how good they had dealt with it; Yamaguchi was the one who could recognize even when he was about to break, Suga was the one who could bring him back faster and Daichi was the one who usually cheered him up the most after one of those happened.

He was expecting Shōyō to comment something back, however he only nodded and moved to the kitchen. Somehow, in that moment, he looked so different than the person that Kei knew.

“You must think that I’m weak,” he whispered, not thinking.

But he must have heard him because Hinata dropped everything and turned to him.

“No, Kei. I think you’re strong,” Shōyō smiled, leaving no doubts of how true he thinks this is.

They locked eyes for a moment and Kei could feel an intensity throw at him that he only saw Shōyō show to the music. It was like he was seeing him for who he really was, no masks, no idol, just a boy that was lost.

“Kei,” Hinata said and he never wanted him to stop saying his name like that, as if it was a precious treasure. “When was the last time that you hugged someone?”

Kei looked confused to him. What was he thinking?

“I don’t know,” he offered, truthfully.

Hinata expected that answer and without further warning, he threw himself into him, wrapping his arms around him. Kei tensed at the touch, not used at all at having someone so close to him, even Yamaguchi usually kept his distance.

“You’re strong,” he repeated, squeezing him tightly.

Only for a moment, Kei let himself stay there, feeling safe. He smelled nice. Then he break free, feeling vulnerable even without knowing why.

"How exactly did you met Yamaguchi?" Shōyō asked lightly, going back to doing their drinks. He didn’t look offended by having been pushed away.

"He was my neighbor. But I usually just ignored him. Then one day I saw that he was having a really bad time and decided to step up," Kei shared.

He choose to keep the details because no one had to know that Yamaguchi was actually being bullied because he didn't have much money and it only stopped once Kei pointed out to the boys how ridiculous they were. Just remember it made Kei’s blood boil with anger.

"That's great. I don't even remember how I met my oldest friend," Shōyō said thoughtful.

"But you knew Kageyama from before the training, right?" Kei wondered, something about it on the corner is his mind.

Shōyō laughed as he gave him his hot chocolate. Oh, how he couldn’t stand Kageyama back then.

"You could say that," he answered as he took his own mug to the his lips. It was even better than he remembered, how could he have survived without this?

Kei was in a similar state. It had been far too long that he hadn't one of those and he didn't know if was really the taste or the abstinence, but this was the best thing he had had in the entire year, forget all the fancy restaurants.

“Wait. I’m going to take a picture, smile!” Hinata said as the only warning before opening his camera and registered the moment, he quickly posted it with a smile.

hinataofficial Liked by **bokuto1** and **others**  
**hinataofficial** time for some food! #goodtime #food #karasuno #midnightsnack #ukaiwillkillme View all 3228 comments 36 minutes ago

"You should at least let me see," protested Kei.

"Nah, don't wanna," he answered simply, hiding his phone away.

Kei stared at him, but gave up any efforts to fight, deciding it wasn’t worth it. He could see it after, anyway.

"But back to your question. You can never share this with anyone outside the group, but Kags and I really hated each other back then. We took the same English class and since the day one I thought he was arrogant and a jerk. He thought I was too careless." Hinata smiled. "We caused so much trouble that in the third week the teacher said that we would have to talk to each other non-stop for half-hour and that our grades depended on it. Turns out, we talked more than that".

Kei was truly impressed. He would never think that they couldn't stand each other, by how much they rely on each other now. And to come to the point that the teacher had done something? This was just so like them.

xxx

Hinata usually was a morning person, but that wasn’t the case when he had stayed up until dawn talking to Tsukishima. His body felt sore and all he wanted was to sleep, the bed feeling extra soft.

Yet his annoying alarm wouldn’t let him and he got up, brushed his teeth and putted some workout clothes. Then he was already tiredly going through to his usual workout routine, feeling more awake and tired at the same time.

“Morning,” he said to Noya, who was happily eating his egg.

His friend greeted him back and they ate in silence for three seconds.

“You look like shit,” Noya observed.

Maybe if it was anybody else, Shōyō would be offended with the words, yet Noya had a way with words that it never seemed that he was saying something to be mean. 

“I haven’t had a lot of time to sleep,” he explained.

Then he realized his mistake. When he posted the photo, he had not predicted the knowings grins he would get. After all, the last thing his friends had to truly tease him about was Miya Atsumu and they weren’t a thing anymore for some time now.

“And who’s fault is that?” Noya replied, cheekily.

He wasn’t blushing, no, no. There was nothing to be ashamed about, he just met Tsukishima there by coincidence. And they talked. What was so strange about it? They were colleagues, at least. Shōyō had certainly already stay up talking with all the others members.

“You shouldn’t stay up late,” Daichi commented, shaking his head. He was glad that Tsukishima and Hinata were finally bonding, maybe that way he wouldn’t have to do with their fights, but couldn’t they do it at a normal time?

Kei entered the kitchen and just for a moment Shōyō forgot about everything else, his mind going back to the previous night. He knew he hadn't done much, but he expected that yesterday talk would help him a bit.

Just for a moment, he thought Tsukishima had smiled upon seeing him, but his mind must be playing tricks because his expression was blank again the next second.

"Did you two have fun last night?" Noya asked him, suggestively.

"Not more than you and your hand," Kei replied smirking.

Hinata almost choked on his food, having not expected Kei to reply like that. He knew pretty well that there was nothing like that in their meeting, but now he started to imagine what would be like if it was.

He bet Tsukishima would be a great kisser and a total tease, like he was in everything in his life. It was so wrong that this was so hot?

"Tsukishima!" Daichi warned, wearing his father's voice.

Tsukishima raised his hands as if he was surrendering himself. Hinata rolled his eyes. Forget about hot, Kei was nothing but a prick.

xxx

The whole group was eating outside in a nice dinner. Hinata thought the sitting places were kind of strange, with him somehow ending up next to Tsukishima and Ennoshita, but he didn’t comment.

He was so tired. The day had been so busy that they had barely stopped. He wondered where people got the idea that idols lazed off, because nobody in Karasuno ever did that. It had been months since he was last his family, even.

He closed his eyes, just for a few minutes. He didn’t want to fight his tiredness anymore.

“Hey, Hinata,” a voice said. “It’s time to go. Let’s go home,” it said softly. Hinata didn’t think he had ever heard it… at least not while not singing.

He opened his eyes, seeing Tsukishima's face. He had a strange expression on his face, nothing like he his usual frowning self. Hinata was taken back, he had already thought Tsukishima was hot - as he had declared on TV - but right now he wasn’t just that, he was beautiful.

Hinata could never say what his color eyes were exactly, because it didn’t look like anyone’s else, close to an amber, but so different at the same time. But what did the trick was his smile - never before Shōyō had seen his smile genuinely. Yes, he sometimes curved his lips a little while he was talking with Yamaguchi and someone Shōyō guessed that it was Akiteru. Never a full smile though. He looked so much better with an open expression.

“Go?” Shōyō asked, confused. He wasn’t being able to keep up with the information.

Just like that, Tsukishima’s smile disappeared, as if he only noticed now that he was actually showing an emotion.

“Yeah, it’s time we go back to the apartment,” Tsukishima replied and then got up from his chair, not wanting for a response.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> If you see someone having a panic attack, do not act how Hinata did. Get help if you can and if you can't, at least try to make them list 5 things that they can see, 4 things they can touch, 3 things they can hear, 2 things they can smell, and 1 thing they can taste.  
> Like I have seen a case myself where what Hinata did worked, but it's not very safe.  
> Image of the chapter: https://www.pinterest.pt/pin/849632285930994890/


	5. Beach

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Hinata and Kei share some alone time.

That wasn’t fair. Hinata was only trying to get out of the house to do his morning run, not to see a mostly naked Kei coming back from his own run and looking like he had been caught by the rain.

These past weeks, they had started talking more. It was just impossible to fake indifference anymore after everything they had shared and when he had learned that Kei had a human side. Shōyō started to somehow like to spend time with him and his smile wasn’t as fake as before when they had to do something together (he wouldn't even admit to himself that he actually sought him out).

This wasn’t to say that they were best friends - most of the time, Hinata contemplated if he had enough fame to get away with killing the other, but then again Tsukishima was as famous as him.

Through, right now, Hinata's thoughts were far from killing as he stares at Tsukishima form. It looked like he exercised a lot more than Shōyō had noticed (not nearly too much, thankfully).

Hinata tried to tell himself that it was no big deal. He had even seen Tsukishima naked a couple of times and though back then he wouldn’t exactly complain, it didn’t hit him this badly before.

What was so different from seeing him in nothing but shorts and water still running through his body? Yes, he had the perfect body that Hinata worshiped, with just the right amount of muscles that made him want to pass his hand and feel him all the way…

Hinata always knew that he was bisexual, but he never felt gayer in his life than at that moment. There was nothing straight about any of his thoughts as he stared at him and thought about all the things that they could be doing.

Then the worst thing that could happen did: Tsukishima turned his head and caught him looking. For a moment, they only stared at each other, unblinkingly, and all Hinata could think it was that he knew, that he could see all that he was thinking.

He had a strange urge to hide behind a rock. Kei started to smile as if he had developed a plan. He came close to him.

“Oh, I think it’s time for me to offer you a hug,” he said and Hinata could swear that he was laughing inside.

“Don’t you dare,” Shōyō took a step back, trying to stay dry.

“What? Are you afraid of getting yourself a little wet?” he asked with a smirk.

Hinata blamed his dirty mind for thinking anything but water. He didn't know why, but since he had started thinking about Kei like that, he couldn't stop.

Still, there was no way that he would allow him to hug him in the state that he was on. So, he did the most reasonable thing anyone could do on his situation: he ran like hell, taking advantage of Tsukishima’s surprise to put some distance between them.

He thought that that would be it, that he would be free from the threat. He didn’t count with Tsukishima running after him, a lot faster than when he raced with the others guy (Hinata always knew he wasn’t trying! That git).

“If I reach the park before you, you’ll have to stop!” Hinata shouted to him when they were closer.

“You wish,” Kei said back.

And they stayed like that, with him trying to get away and the other catching him until Tsukishima let out a scream.

Thinking it was a little bit odd, Hinata turned to look at him and caught Tsukishima pained expression. He instantly got worried and come closer to the boy.

“Shit, Hinata, you made me hurt my ankle,” Tsukishima complained, as he sat down in the mild of the street. “I can’t believe it”.

Hinata paled. Oh, no. The other members - except for Kageyama, who would laugh his ass off - would kill him, for hurting him.

“Shit, let me take a look?” he said, not wanting for his answer before also dropping to the ground.

It didn’t look like there was anything wrong. He cautiously touched Kei’s ankle, trying to see how he reacted and if something felt different.

“Are you a doctor now?” Tsukishima joked.

“I’m sorry for running away from you,” Hinata said, ignoring the jab. “The guys will kill me. I didn’t want this to happen” he said unhappily.

“Are you feeling guilty?” Kei asked.

He nodded. Kei smiled and before Hinata knew he was back to his feet. He ran even faster than before.

“What?” Hinata mumbled to himself. Then he understood everything: “You bastard! You faked it, just so you could surpass me,” he screamed.

“All fair in love and war,” the other screamed back to him.

Cursing the bastard on his mind, Hinata started to run faster, determined to win.

xxx

Kei hated the fact that it was impossible to tell no to the sun. Hinata had practically informed him that they were going to the beach and had barely let him got ready before shoving them into his car.

Besides, Hinata kept going on and on about how he owned him, after his last stunt. He was still a bit mad at him for pretending to be hurt (but it was totally worth seeing how worried he had got).

He was a bit afraid of Hinata’s driving abilities, he was too young to die, but he was doing rather well so far.

“Tell me again why did you kidnap me,” Kei grunted.

“I didn’t kidnap you,” Hinata protested. “I just wanted to go to the beach and you were the only one awake,” he said, trying to convince himself that that was the only reason. He couldn’t afford to think about any other reason.

“What are you, five? Why can’t you go alone to the beach?”

“Come on, it will be fun,” he promised.

Kei wasn’t so sure, but he knew nothing could come out of saying so. Instead, he let his thoughts wander off to the beach itself.

Kei wondered how many years had been since he had last set foot on a beach. He couldn’t remember exactly, even though he was sure it had been one day with Yamaguchi.

His aunt had a beach in the house and he used to go there every month with his family and he knew it was Akiteru’s favorite place, but since his brother had depression they had a stop to go.

He wasn’t even sure if he would still like the beach or not.

Kei’s phone vibrated with new notification and he unlocks it to see what it was. He smiled a little as he read and answered the texts:

“Wow, are you smiling?” Hinata’s voice interrupted his thoughts.

“Very funny,” Kei ironized. “Kuroo’s saying Lev managed to arrange a meeting between Karasuno and Nekoma,” he informed him.

“OH, I’LL SEE KENMA! AND LEV!” Hinata shouted excited. “When? Where?”

“Yeah, yeah,” Kei rolled his eyes. “I don’t know it yet”.

He continued to listen as Hinata talked a lot about Kenma and Lev. Kei even suspected that he knew more about them and what they were doing than their fans. Usually, he would tell him to shut up, but he kind of liked to hear Hinata’s voice.

He tries to tell himself that this wasn't strange. Hinata is a singer, after all.

“Aren’t you happy to see Kuroo?” Hinata asked him.

“I guess so,” Kei shrugged.

“Come on, I know you guys are best friends” Hinata protested.

“My best friend is Yamaguchi,” he denied.

“Ok, fine. But he is your second best friend then,” he said.

Okay. Maybe he liked Kuroo more than most people and they talked at least every week. It didn’t mean that they were that close. He had better taste, thank you.

“Deny all that you want, I know you like him,” Hinata said in a weird tone, almost singing. “The same way that I know you like me too,” he teased.

Kei felt himself blushing. He knew he hated Hinata, but that didn’t feel true anymore. He didn’t know what he felt about Hinata, just that it was different from what he felt from everybody else.

“Oh, you are red!” Hinata was definitely amused by it, and Kei didn’t like it at all.

“Shut up,” he voiced automatically.

To his surprise, Hinata actually did what he was told. They managed to stay in silence for a few minutes. It wasn’t an awkward one, but it let Kei overthink their words… and he was freaking out with the thought that maybe he enjoyed Hinata’s company too much.

“Seriously?” he asked when Complicated by Avril Lavigne started to play.

“Hey, don’t be mean to her. This song is amazing,” he defended, before starting to sing along with it.

Great. Not only was he going to the beach in the cold, but he was also obligated to hear Hinata’s playlists.

xxx

“Finally,” Kei said when the car stopped.

“It didn’t take that long,” Hinata objected.

They got out of the car and at once Shōyō could feel how cold it was. He was not so glad that he was wearing shorts and a t-shirt.

Kei, though, seemed to have come too prepared. He was even wearing a hoodie.

“You’re way too dressed up,” Hinata appointed.

“Hum. I thought it would be colder,” he admitted.

He looked around, realizing now that he could not see many people around him. People usually avoid the beach in the off session, but even then the beach usually gathers more tourists than that.

“It’s also more empty than usual,” he declared suspicious.

“Don’t worry, I come here often. It’s just that the tide is strong,” Hinata explained. “So, it’s better to not go too far. This is also worth it for the summer”.

He then started to take his shoes off.

“What do you think you’re doing?” Kei asked perplexed.

“Well, I want to feel the sand,” he explained as if he was the idiot one.

He resumed the process, grabbing the pair on his hand. He went back to the car and opened it to put it there, before closing it again.

Kei watched him, unsure of what to do now. When he came to the beach it was either to play with his family or to swim. Obviously, he could do neither now.

“Let’s walk for a bit,” Hinata proposed.

Kei accepted. He didn’t have any better ideas.

It was quite refreshing to smell the salt coming from the sea and feel the light breeze. Unlike Hinata, he couldn’t feel the sea itself or the sand, but just to look at it was calming.

Hinata was having fun, he could tell. It was clear on his expression, which strongly reminding Kei of a delighted child. But he kept shaking and it was starting to worry Kei.

“By any chance, are you cold?” Kei inquired, this had been the only explanation that he could come up.

“Yes…” he admitted, avoiding his eyes.

Kei wanted to know how could someone be cold on that temperature. But he didn’t doubt it was true. Sighing, he took his hoodie out.

Hinata stares to his naked chest for a second before averting his gaze.

“Wait. What are you doing?” Hinata asked, panicked.

“I’m actually feeling hot,” he said. “This way, you’ll stop shaking. It’s a win-win”.

“You don’t need to do that,” he protested.

“Don’t be stupid,” he replied back.

He offered the hood to him again, and he took it. They don't have to wait for long before Hinata stops shivering.

Without saying anything, they return to their walk and each one is left to their owns thoughts. Kei isn’t sure how much they walk but they stop as soon Hinata asks for them to sit.

They then talked about Karasuno and some of the weirdest things fans have said to them. Kei laughed hard with the story about Hinata’s cousin (he had never known why he made a statement before, declaring that they were family).

“I have a question that I want you to answer truthfully,” Hinata said, suddenly serious as he stared at him.

Feeling nervous, even without reason to, Kei nodded.

“Do you sing just for fun?” Hinata said it like it was a life or death matter.

“Hum?” he replied confused.

“Like, just for the fun of it. Forget the right tone and all that shit. Just to you and yourself. Sing like you’re the king of it," Shōyō explained.

Kei stopped to think about it. Yes, he sang for fun when he was a little and all the way through school. Yet he couldn’t recall the last time he did it that wasn’t a performance or something like that.

“Why do you want to know?” he asked, getting in the defensive.

“I just thought it was odd that you hadn’t sung one thing in our way here”.

“Oh,” Kei answered, unsure of what to feel about it. “It has been a few years”.

“Okay, so let’s sing,” he proposed. “Come on, it will be fun” he added when he saw Kei’s face.

“I heard that one before,” he shot back.

“Haha, you’re so funny…” he rolled his eyes. “You don’t have to sing it perfectly, ok? Just do it the way you think it would be more fun,” he explained. “You can follow my lead,” he suggested, with a smirk.

“Please, you’ll follow mine,” Kei said, getting fired up. He wouldn’t lose to Hinata on this.

“Ok… _This ain't a song for the broken-hearted_ ,” he paused, then: _“No silent prayer for the faith-departed_ ,” he made a dramatic face at the end.

Kei recognized it instantly - how could he not? He bet every single being on the planet had already heard _It’s My Life_ , by Bon Jovi. He was tempted to not single at all just to annoy Hinata, but he was also more surprised that he had chosen such a good song.

“ _I ain't gonna be just a face in the crowd, you're gonna hear my voice when I shout it out loud_ ,” Kei’s voice joined Hinata’s.

He knew his voice was all “wrong”, going so much louder than it was intended to. But there was something in him that was going along with the moment, with the idea that he could be free to do whatever he wanted with the song.

“ _It's my life! It's now or never,_ ” he sang, hearing Hinata do the same, then he made a sad face before entering the rest: “ _I ain't gonna life forever, I just want to live while I'm alive. It's my life. My heart is like an open highway Like Frankie said, I did it my way. I just want to live while I'm alive. It's my life_ ”.

He stared at Hinata, who looked positively glowing with happiness. He tried to recall what was the right time to sing the next part. He didn’t know if he missed it or if Hinata rushed it properly, but the red hair was singing before him.

“... _Tomorrow's getting harder, make no mistake, luck ain't enough. You've got to make your own breaks_ ,” he said, trying to catch him up. As if seeing what he was doing, Hinata smiled and rushed the words.

They didn’t hit the chorus together, with Hinata almost doing a rap with how fast he was saying the words, but Kei took his vengeance by screaming the words (he was sure that he would have left someone deaf it there was anyone near them).

“... _I just want to live while I’m alive. It’s my life_ ,” Kei sang the end, making his voice drop to a low tone in the last phrase.

He was received with Hinata’s applauses. He took it with a smile. This had been fun. He never thought that singing Bon Jovi would feel so life-changing. He felt like for once he was the one in control of his life.

“What else do you get?” he asked, anxious to do one more song.

“What about Mr. Brightside?” Hinata suggested. “Oh, don’t make that face! It’s fun to sing. It even has a story,” he defended it.

“Fine,” Kei agreed.

They sang it, going with the same chaos that was the song before. Kei picked the next one - the song was Once Upon a December, from the Disney movie. Easy, right? No, because Kei had decided to sing it on Russian, proclaiming it to be ten times better. Shōyō sang along with him, except he was singing on English.

They only decide to stop when Kei received a call from Yamaguchi, in the middle of Gangnam Style (Hinata’s choice), wondering where the hell they went. Kei was a bit sad about having to stop it all. He was already thinking about all the other songs they could do.

“It was fun,” he said, laughing, before getting on his feet.

Shōyō looked to him, amazed. Kei laugh was truly beautiful and he knew even now that he would do anything to hear it again.

“Yeah,” Hinata agreed, also raising.

For once, Hinata’s smile doesn’t seem blinding. Maybe it’s because Kei was smiling too with him. It keeps that way even as they sit again in the car to travel back home.

Though he does stop smiling so openly, Kei feels strangely happy for the rest of the day.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Obviously, there a part of Bon Jovi's It's My Life on this chapter. I loved to write that scene.


	6. Nekoma

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Kenma and Hinata have a little talk.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry for the wait! I was (and still am) stuck on some things about the futures chapters of this fic.

Karasuno had a friend-rivalry with Nekoma for years now, with them having debuted at a close time and from rival companies. Karasuno was known for their unpredictability, nobody could ever guess what their next album would be like, while Nekoma would always come up with lyrics that matched perfectly the melody and brought the best out of every one of them. They had all met each other multiple times and had become friends somehow.

Kenma is the brain of Nekoma's group, always the one who chooses their themes and revises all their lyrics. He had first met Shōyō a couple of months before debuting and he had connected to him instantly, surprising everyone by accepting him as a close friend and even improving greatly on his job after it. He liked the way Hinata was so open about everything.

Today was Lev's birthday and he somehow had coached Nekomata and Ukai to allow a day off to both groups, with a fun trip to the amusement park, promising that the groups would do a surprise presentation in the end.

Kenma didn’t try to hide how he was very happy with it, he had even rushed the others so that they didn’t arrive late. He didn't get to see Shōyō as much as he liked, so he really treasured the few times that he got to see him.

He was happy to see that his friends were having fun too. He saw Tanaka and Tora challenging each other to see who got scared first, Kuroo sharing a few competitive words to Suga and Daichi, Yuka and Nishinoya had already run off to somewhere and dragged Asahi with them.

Kenma himself was surrounded by Shōyō, of course. As soon as they saw each other, Shōyō had thrown himself at him, hugging him. They easily fell in conversation, ignoring the rest of the world, as they always had done.

Kageyama had joined their conversation at some point, though it didn’t take long before he took off. Lev stayed longer, before deciding to annoy Ennoshita instead (Kenma wasn’t sure if he would survive or not).

It took a while, and several texts and phone calls, but somehow Kuroo and Daichi managed to gather everyone to eat, even the managers. Only when everyone was reunited that Kenma noticed something strange.

He was surprised to see how different Tsukishima and Hinata were acting around each other; before they always stood as far away from each other as possible and never outright laughed at anything the other said, now they were even throwing each other amused glares every now and then as if remembering a private joke.

But what takes the cake is the lingering look that they send to each other when they think the other isn't looking. It only could be interpreted in one way, really. The only other time he had seen Shōyō like that was in the first week he was with Miya.

Kenma debated with himself if he should say something about it to his friend. He didn’t want to overstep, but he also knows Hinata and how blind he can be to love. He always complained that he only noticed things too late.

Sighing, he decided to take action. He waited patiently for the group to finish eating and he got caught up with some fans. He never took his eyes off of his friend and he jumped at the chance to talk to him when he saw him starting to follow Lev.

“Shōyō, wait,” Kenma said, grabbing Hinata’s arm.

Shōyō tilted his head, waiting for him to explain himself.

“Not here,” Kenma said as the only explication until he managed to lead them to a less crowded place. There is still some people there, but none in the hearing area.

Shōyō distractedly takes one sip of his juice, not worried about what Kenma would say. Coming from him, it couldn’t be anything bad.

"Shōyō, do you know that you’ve got a crush on Tsukishima?" Kenma inquired, curious to know how distracted his friend could be.

Hinata spilled his drinking, thanks to the floor, as he heard the absurd question. He knows that Kenma would never joke around like that, but this is wrong. There was no way he was liking someone so close to him, yet so impossible.

"What?! That's ridiculous," Hinata said, blushing madly. The very idea… it was strange.

He had barely come to terms with not hating Tsukishima, and he can’t imagine anything further.

“There is nothing wrong with this,” Kenma said patiently.

“No, you’re wrong, I don’t like him,” Hinata rejected the idea.

Yes, Tsukishima made him feel strange and he couldn’t deny that he was attracted to him. He enjoyed passing time with him, but if that was that, he also liked to spend time with all of his friends.

He would never fall in love for him, especially when it was so clear that Tsukishima was only now coming to tolerate him too. He knew it was impossible for them to be together.

“Yeah, maybe I’m,” Kenma answered, knowing what a lie this is.

But if Shōyō wasn’t ready to accept it, he couldn’t do anything. Maybe it just wasn’t the time yet.

“And you’re the one to talk,” Hinata called him out. “What about Kuroo?”

Kenma knows what he is saying and there is no point in denying his feelings for his leader. He doesn’t even know for how long he has been in love with Kuroo, it was like the feeling had always been there.

Nobody else came close to catch his attention as he did. And even if Kenma hadn’t had an entire life to learn everything about Kuroo, he was sure that he would have pointed out everything he liked and what he hated, every little detail was important about him.

And knowing so much about him is what makes Kenma sure that he doesn’t deserve Kuroo. He deserves someone so much better. Someone who isn’t afraid of every little thing and can handle himself. 

“He doesn’t like me that way,” he said.

“Don’t be silly, Kenma. Everyone can see that you’re the most precious thing to him,” Hinata replied.

“I’m just a friend,” he refused.

“One day, you’ll realize how important you are to him,” Hinata sounded tired. “But since that day isn’t today, let’s take a selfie, and then there are many places I still want to go,” he said.

Kenma smiled, happy that they dropped the subject.

Close by, Kuroo and Tsukishima were catching up. Actually, it was more like Kuroo trying to annoy the boy and the other sending back mean replies, even though he was glad to see his friend. He would never say this out loud, but he really cherished his friendship with the Nekoma leader.

“I bet you’ll scream like a little girl in the horror house,” challenged Kuroo.

Kei smiled. He always liked terror and after seeing so many movies, he knows that it will be a child’s play.

“Oh, you’re on,” he said, but he gets distracted as he sees Kenma and Hinata near them.

The two of them seem to be in an intense conversation, with none of them averting their eyes from each other.

“It’s amazing how they became friends, don’t you think?” said Kuroo, following his glare.

“Yes, I always thought that Kenma was shy,” Kei replied, feeling uncomfortable.

Kei is still looking at them and sees them getting closer to take a selfie. He has no doubt that this will be the happiness of their mutual fans. He doesn’t like it at all.

“He is,” Kuroo agreed. “But he never was with Hinata,” he shrugged. “I’m glad that they are friends,” he said honestly. Everything that brought happiness to Kenma was good to his eyes and he liked the shrimp too.

“Yeah, me too,” Kei said, pretending that he couldn’t understand the strange feeling he was having.

xxx

kenmakozume Liked by **hinataofficial** and **others**  
 **kenmakozume** finally got to see him #shoyo #bff #karasuno #nekoma #park View all 2148 comments 44 minutes ago

xxx

**my-puddim-head reblogged kenhinaotp**

[image 2] [image 3]

**not-any-idol-kuroo**

damn, they look cute together

**gay-for-testurou**

but what about kurooken??

\----------

**aka-a-shi**

i ship it

Source: not-any-idol-kuroo #kenhina #nekomakarasuno #karasuno #hinata shoyo #kozume kenma #they’re adorable

19,521 notes

xxx

“Did you see that you were replaced?” Yamaguchi asked with a smirk. Really, Tsukishima always took the fame, but his best friend was as bad as him.

“What the hell are you talking about?” he replied, not even a bit worried. Knowing his friends, it was just another unimportant thing.

“I’m afraid to show you that Hinata has grown tired of you,” he sighed and then dramatically threw a phone at his hands, showing him the fan pictures of the yesterday talk between Kozume and Hinata Shōyō that was blowing up the fandom.

Tsukishima returned it without talking anything, it wasn’t like he really felt anything for Hinata. Yes, it had been a little annoying to see them so close together, especially with Hinata’s blush and Kozume’s fond look, and how the hell had they become such friends again? And why was that Kozume holding Hinata’s arm? But it wasn’t really any of his business.

“What? I thought you would be happy?” Yamaguchi commented surprised, he knew how much Kei disliked when the fans were shipping him with anyone (all it took it was one photo of him talking with Kuroo and they were already planning their wedding) and seeing how much aversion he felt towards Hinata, to finally get a break from his fans shouldn’t make him glad?

“Shut up, Yamaguchi,” he replied. Though his phrase was far from unusual, he seemed to be more irritated than normal. His best friend smartly decided to only throw a concerned glare before changing the subject.

But Tsukishima was still angry when the rest of the group had come down to eat, though they didn’t notice it. He was silent the whole time his friends talked around him.

xxx

Kei thought that he would be in a better mood on the next day. He proved himself wrong, the urge to kill someone didn't go way. He was in such terrible mood that he had turned his headphone in maxim volume while he was running and didn’t bother to talk to anyone of the group.

He just couldn’t stop think about Hinata and Kozume, no matter how much he told himself that it wasn’t his business and that it shouldn’t affect him.

He knew that Hinata liked guys, he had seen and heard enough of him with Miya to not know.

But that didn't mean he liked Kozume. They could be just friends. Kei knew Hinata was pretty touchy with his friends and it was one of the reasons that he was one of troublemakers of the group, always involved in a speculation or another, though nobody had ever seemed to have actual proof.

Unsure what to do, he decided to search a little a bit. It was better than having to expose to someone the mess of things he was feeling and why the hell would he care if Hinata banged Kozume or not.

xxx

Tanaka loved to do lives, sometimes including the whole Karasuno and others just him and Noya doing stupid shitty. This one was just him and his friend talking to some fans and answering some questions.

Everything was going great. The problem was when one of the fans asked him to show the rest of the guys and Noya and he decided it would be a good idea to surprise everyone.

They had started with the living room, where Daichi, Asahi and Suga were talking about what movie they should see ( there is no way that Asahi can handle terror, Daichi! ), then they caught Ennoshita taking the trash out. After that, they entered Tsukishima's room. He was there, doing something on his computer.

Tanaka tried to focus on it to show what he was doing, but it was only some words. He wondered in a whisper what that would be, but three seconds later Tsukishima changed the guide to… a tumblr page that contained photos of Hinata with both himself and Kozume?

“What the fuck,” Tanaka swore out loud, forgetting what he was doing.

This made Tsukishima let out a scream, surprised. He had gone to his room thinking that it was the only place he could be alone and do his research and now Nishinoya and Tanaka were there?

“What are you two doing here?” he screamed, enraged.

“We were just about to go, great to see you,” Noya replied and dragged Tanaka away from there, hoping that Tsukishima wouldn’t catch up the fact they were live streaming.

Tanaka looked to his phone as soon Noya reassured him that it was safe, finally showing his followers something other than the floor. He saw that there were a lot of questions and comments, he chose to ignore them all but one.

“Let’s see what the rest is doing,” he said and then went to Hinata’s room, half hoping to catch them doing something strange and half-hoping it was something normal.

“Oh, it looks like Kageyama is beating Hinata again,” Noya exclaimed as he saw them fighting in a video game.

He was right; Hinata was letting out curses and promises that he would beat Kageyama, but he had just died.

They went to Yamaguchi's room and once more the sight was an unexpected one. Yamaguchi was in the middle of changing his clothes. At least he was wearing a box.

"What are you guys doing?!" Yamaguchi said, his eyes twitching with range. "Why is your phone pointed at me?" he said, as he walked to get close to them. “Are you idiots doing a live show?”

"Don't worry, I bet that they think you look hot. Don't they?" Nishinoya said, trying to come with an excuse to save his ass.

"Shut up! That's not the point," Yamaguchi said angrily. “I COULD BE NAKED!” he screamed.

"I think that's it for today, guys," said Tanaka and shut off the live.

“WELL?” Yamaguchi screamed.

For years, Tanaka had tried to understand how Yamaguchi could be friends with someone like Tsukishima without an ounce of fear. Now, he understood. Yamaguchi looked scary enough on his own.

“Sorry,” Yū hastily apologized, taking a step back. “We never thought you would be undressed,” he offered.

Personally, he wouldn’t be that affected if that had happened to him. But he knew that Tsukishima and Yamaguchi both like to keep a refined image to their fans and that didn’t involve him wearing a simple box.

Unfortunately, that wasn’t good enough for Yamaguchi. He still kept screaming with them for what felt like hours and the duo was totally defeated when they finally managed to leave the room.

“Dude… did you see what I saw?” Tanaka asked Noya, when they were finally alone in his room.

Noya didn’t need him to elaborate it, even if Yamaguchi had been a lot to take in, what was really crazy was catching Tsukishima looking at that. Also, they both knew that they should prepare themselves in case the boy decided it was their fault and retaliate.

“Yeah, man, I think Tsukishima is going crazy,” Noya said. “Or maybe I’m, for seeing it”.

“Yeah,” Tanaka agreed. He was truly curious to know why their friend was seeing that particular tumblr, but he knew better than to ask.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Images: 1 - https://www.pinterest.pt/pin/849632285933934728/, 2 - https://www.pinterest.pt/pin/849632285933936810/, 3 - https://www.pinterest.co.kr/pin/371195194261265763/.


	7. Hinata's reaction

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Tsukishima waits for Hinata's reaction, hoping he won't hate him. What will Hinata think of seeing Kei read fanfic of them?

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Not corrected yet.

Tsukishima felt restless. His own mind didn’t stop replaying the moment that Tanaka and Noya had busted through his room. 

He knew that there was no point in trying to hide what he did, because if they had been indeed filming it as he suspected it, it was already online. 

"I'm going for a walk," he announced to Yamaguchi.

He didn’t wait for an answer, before taking off and letting his feet decide the path, not even a bit worried about the time or anything like that. His neighbor was as safe as it could be; besides nobody would dare to leave a murder unsolved if it happened to member of a so popular group, so at minimum he would get justice. 

Right now, he was much more worried about getting away from there and possibly never coming back. He couldn't stop thinking about Nishinoya and Tanaka catching him basically stalking Hinata. It was so embarrassing and creepy.

He knew it was ridiculous to look for fanfic and fanart of himself. He hadn't go to that path for years, knowing the kind of crazy thing that he could find there. But he couldn’t resist it, he had to see for himself what it was that Yamaguchi was talking about. 

It was just that… could be true that Hinata liked Kenma? He wanted to know.

He knew that they had a strong bond, even meddling with each other business when they companies strictly said to not do so. Nobody understood exactly how or why, but Kenma had opened himself to Hinata in ways he never did and it was clear that they cared about each other in a special way. 

He just always assumed that it was something alike his friendship with Kuroo, but what if he was wrong and they felt more than that? It was odd to think about them as couples, but this wouldn’t matter if they did like each other.

The photos of them from that day in the park didn't look very friendly to him and with the help of the fanfics he could imagine pretty well what love words they were saying. 

What if Kenma really did confess his love when he pulled Hinata close to him?

But then it wasn't like it was his business anyway.

xxx

As soon as Kuroo saw it, he rushed to talk to Bokuto, knowing that he would be the only one able to understand him. Of course, Bokuto was with Akaashi so he was also dragged into it.

"Do you see what I mean?" Kuroo said dramatically to Bokuto. "The poor kid is lost". 

Akaashi rolled his eyes. Whatever it was that he showing, from what he had gathered from mindlessly hearing their conversation, it was about Tsukishima. And the Karasuno idol didn’t pass him the image of being neither a kid or lost.

He wished that Kenma was there to help him do damage control and force Kuroo to give up whatever crazy notion he had. But Kenma was out with Lev, dealing with something related to Nekoma.

If Akaashi could, he would run and leave Kuroo and Bokuto to themselves, but that was a hard thing to do when they were on _his_ room. He cursed the person who decided that it was a good idea that both Nekoma and Fukurodani lived on the same building and had practically gave Kuroo and Lev a free pass. 

“Can you two keep quiet?” he begged, knowing that it wouldn’t work.

“But Akaashi, you have to see this!” Bokuto said, shoving a phone on his face.

It looked like a fan reposting one of Tanaka’s lives. Akaashi didn’t think much of it, but he was damn right surprised when he saw Tsukishima clearly stalking Hinata or Kenma.

“He has to be crazy. Or in love,” Akaashi commented surprised.

He knew very well what was the most probable option and he knew Kuroo did too when he nodded. So that was he had showed up here, to help his friend to win Hinata’s heart - and to share his friend doing stupid shit too, Tsukishima reading a fanfic of himself was hilarious.

Looking at Kuroo, an idea came to Akaashi's mind. Maybe it was the devil doing, but he could bet that it would work. So, he kept his face straight and stared him.

“So, tell me, Kuroo. You’re their best friend. Do you think that he’ll work out with Kenma?” he said, ignoring Bokuto’s questioning glare. He would explain it later. 

“Wait. Do you think that he is after _Kenma_?” Kuroo looked terrified and Akaashi tried to control a smug grin.

He hoped that this would put Kuroo to finally act. Honestly, nobody was saying that he had to come out and call the media to proclaim that he was dating Kenma, but he had to at least confess his feelings to the boy. It was getting rather tiring to watch how they both pinned after each other and nobody did a thing.

So, maybe it was mean of him, since he knew the possibility of Tsukishima being after Kenma was close to zero, but it was for his own peace that he decided to make him believe that.

“Yes,” he answered shortly.

“But, dude...” Kuroo protested, looking lost. 

“We all know that he hates Hinata,” he said, ignoring the urge to roll his eyes. “But I remember seeing him talking to Kenma a couple of times. They seemed to get along well,” he shrugged. 

Kuroo didn’t say anything at all about it and even through he tried to act all light, Akaashi knew that the idea had sink in. 

xxx

That night, Tsukishima woke up feeling guilt as hell. It had been so long since he had that type of dream with someone he knew. Why it had to be Hinata?

He knew he shouldn't have read all those fanfics. They all gave him such vivid images, like grabbing Hinata and kissing him until they both couldn't breath.

He sighed, knowing that he couldn't go back to sleep and risk having this dream again. Once had been enough.

So he just tried to play a game on his phone to block any thoughts about the boy. It didn't work, but he could at least pretend that he wasn't imagining what he was doing.

But it left him too much time to freak about Shōyō’s reaction to the live. He just knew he was fucked up and for once couldn’t come up with a excuse to save himself. 

xxx

In the next day, Shōyō woke up completely unaware that there was something going on. He followed his routine as he always did.

But when he came back to the house, Shōyō felt like everyone was staring at him, which was weird because he was used to this sensation now but not from his friends. He ignored it.

After doing his exercise and more work, he had completely forget all about it. 

"How come only you make me feel that way?" Hinata sang to himself.

He opened his Instagram and went to one of his last posted photo. He smiled when he saw once more how relaxed Tsukishima looked, even if he knew how bad he was that day.

He got distracted when he noticed that Kenma had sent him a bunch of messages. He read it all, but it wasn’t making any sense and he decided to see the video that he had also shared to him.

He almost dropped his phone when he saw Tsukishima going through fanfics and then fanarts? Of him? And Kenma?

What the hell? 

xxx

Tsukishima was sure that by now, Hinata had already seen the video. There was just no way that nobody had mentioned it to him. Hell, he would bet Kuroo would send to him just to mess with him. 

He had expected Hinata to confront him about it. Or even to mock him. To ignore him. To do something. 

Yet what he had gained was him acting like nothing happened. He talked to him the same way he always did, smiling and joking around. He didn’t seem to have any problem in maintaining eye contact, unlike Kei.

“I can’t take this anymore,” Tsukishima said to himself, he hadn’t felt this frustrated in years. 

Yamaguchi threw him a curious glance, but he only ignored him.

He watched as Hinata rehearsed once again with Nishinoya the new choreography, both laughing, but getting the job done. 

“Hey, can I talk to you?” he said awkwardly, interrupting them.

For a second, Hinata gave him an thoughtful look and it was scary, because it was like he was seeing right inside Kei. It remind him of that day when they were in the kitchen.

Then he smiled again and without reason, Kei felt his own heart beating fast. 

_This is ridiculous. I’m just nervous that I’m going to admit to be searching for him online. Yeah, that’s it,_ he thought. 

“Can it wait until we get back home?” Hinata asked.

Kei didn’t think that he would survive this long, but he nodded anyway. His mind was strangely absent the rest of the time. He just came back to the normal when they were once again back to their apartment. 

He barely felt when Hinata’s hand gently tugged his shirt, leading him to his room (why it was so damn colorful there?). They had lived at the same house for years now, but he couldn’t recall a single time he had been in Hinata’s room without the rest of members.

He heard as Hinata closed the door. Then, suddenly, he was too aware of what was happening, thinking about how he and Hinata would be worse than they were weeks before.

“Okay, I’m all ears now,” Hinata said.

Kei knew that this was his cue to apologize for reading fanfic of them. And seeing those amazing fanarts. And the video on Youtube. No, thinking again, Hinata didn’t knew about all of it, so maybe he should just mention what appeared in the live?

But what if Hinata said he couldn’t stand being near him? What if they only talked for the cameras? He had come to like so much Shōyō’s company that he couldn’t imagine living without it anymore.

"Is this about the fanfic that you were reading?" Hinata asked when the silence stretched for too long.

"Yes," he admitted. “I’m sorry,” he added, facing the floor.

"You should be. That one was horrible, it was like they didn't know you at all," he said as if this wasn’t a big deal.

Kei was ready to agree and say that he wouldn’t do it again, when he processed the words. Could Hinata actually not think it was strange that he was reading a fanfic about them?

“Come again?” he asked.

“Since I caught you reading a fanfic, I decided to try it. I already liked to see fanarts, but wow, who knew fanfic could also be so cool? I found one that we were spies. How cool is that?” Hinata said as cheerful as ever.

“Do you not mind… they writing about us doing stuff?” Kei asked, uncomfortable.

“Not at all. There’s one that you seemed strangely into biting, through… maybe you had a vampire kink?” Hinata seemed contemplative. “Anyway, why would I mind if they write about us kissing? Or having sex?”.

 _Because something like that gets stuck on your mind,_ Tsukishima wanted to scream. He certainly couldn’t shake off the images of him going to Hinata’s bed and the other moaning…

Like, if this was one of those fanfics, he could shut up Hinata right now by kissing him and everything would be alright after it. It was tempting indeed. But he knew the truth, how it would make everything awkward.

So he chose to just look at him while he tried to deal with it all.

Hinata putted an arm on Kei's shoulder, making him stare directly into his eyes. Maybe it should be uncomfortable, but it wasn’t.

"There was even one that went like this: _Kei, I've never hated you,_ " he said, assuming a serious expression. " _The truth is that I always loved you. You see, every time that I looked at you, I was drawn to you. Can you feel it too?_ " Kei almost nodded but he caught himself just on time. _"I can't deny myself anymore…_ " he lowered his voice. " _I need you now,_ " he stared at him and went impossibly close, landing a kiss right next to his mouth.

Kei was stunned. He felt like someone had suddenly cut his oxygen and he couldn’t understand what was happening around him. His mind couldn’t process the thought that Hinata’s mouth had been so close to his and why did it make him feel like he was melting?

"Pretty great, hum?" he said happily, turning back to his grinning self. "This was one of my favorites".

Kei stared at him, trying to put together the pieces of his mind that were still working. Hinata was a little shit (one that he was very attracted to).

“You’re the worst,” Kei said only, but without hate, before taking a step back. 

He was gone before Hinata could say anything else. 

xxx

Hinata woke up smiling. Not only he had a very relaxing dream, but Kei’s visit to his room came back to his mind.

He had so much fun teasing the boy. Of course, he was a bit afraid that Kei would react badly, but that didn’t seem the case at all. He loved to see him so embarrassed, it was so much fun to see the so perfect boy unsure of what to do.

He had to admit that he got excited by having that much emotion throw at him, he could see that Kei was very engaged in what he was saying. He had his total attention on that moment. 

Since Atsumu, he hadn't the desire to watch someone come undone on his hands, but he couldn't deny anymore that he was curious to see what Kei would be like in the bedroom.


	8. Late night call

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Hinata receives a call from Atsumu. Akaashi is unsure if words managed to get through Kuroo.

Shōyō was having such a nice dream. It was a memory of him playing basketball with Kōji and Izumi. They were laughing more than doing actual play, through. 

His dream was interrupted by a loud and insistent sound that he recognized as his cell phone ringing. As much as he would’ve like to ignore it, it didn’t stop. No, even after he mindless rejected the call, the person called again. 

He thought that it was weird. Who would call him in the middle of the night? Yes, he had many friends that were probably travelling all around of the world, but almost all of them remember to check for the time zone when they called someone.

But somehow he is not all that surprised when he sees Atsumu’s name flashing on his phone. Miya was never one to care about details like whatever time it was for the other person that he was calling (and to be honest, Hinata wasn’t just like that anymore because Suga had taught him better).

He didn’t hesitate before accepting up the call. It had been awhile since he had least heard from Atsumu, despite their many promises to keep in touch, so it would be worth lose his sleep over it. 

“Hey, asshole,” he greeted, smiling. 

“You don’t pick my calls three times and _I_ am the asshole one?” Miya complained. 

Hinata smiled even more. One of the things that he likes the most about Atsumu is how upfront he is, he had never shy away from say what he is thinking. 

“I was sleeping,” Hinata informed him. 

“Oh, sorry about that,” Miya said with real sympathy. “I saw that you meet Nekoma’s guys, how was it?” he asked.

Hinata narrated about everything that happened on that day, leaving only the bit about his strange conversation with Kenma about Kei out of it - not that anybody could blame him, it would be just too awkward to mention his supposed feelings and attraction for Kei to Atsumu.

Atsumu talked a lot too, jumping at every opportunity to say how much Kageyama was a prat (they had done a photo session together ages ago but they had never got over it, hating each other guts).

Shōyō asked about Atsumu and he filled him in what had happened to him on the last weeks. He laughed so much with all the fights he had with Osamu; this was something that Shōyō had been envious of Atsumu, how close he could be to his brother. He wished that he could have Natsu around him a lot more.

“How is the young princess?” Atsumu asked, as if he could guess what was on Hinata’s mind. 

Of course, he had never met her in person. It was difficult enough for them to meet, let alone parents and sisters. But he had talked to her plenty when they were dating.

He then told him stories about when Natsu had come to visit them and how she seemed to have formed a strange bond with Tsukishima.

"I never picture glass-kun to be a child's guy," Atsumu replied surprise.

"Well, neither did I," confessed Hinata.

If he had to bet weeks ago, he would say that Tsukishima scared kids away with his personality. But Natsu had come to somehow declare him her favorite person in the whole house, leaving Kageyama and Hinata glaring at Kei.

“Can you guess where I am?” Atsumu asked changing the subject.

Hinata shook his head, before remembering that Atsumu couldn't see it and denying out loud.

"Ontario," he said.

In an instant, all the easy atmosphere was gone. This was a place that once was special to them, because it had been there that they had planned to go when they could escape for a few weeks from their crazy schedule.

He had been drawn to that place since he had watched a Canadian movie filmed there and Atsumu had promised to take him there. He had been so happy, they even started to look for plane tickets before they had come to themselves and realize that as long as they were idols it wouldn't work.

Now it had lost its magic and it was just a reminder of the things that Shōyō didn't let himself think. There was no use living in the past.

It was true that being with Miya had been the easiest thing, once upon ago. They traded secrets and laughs and before they knew it they were kissing. Shōyō missed the lost look that it was on Miya face whenever they spent a long night together and desire clouded their minds.

Sometimes, he even missed others things, little things, like way that Miya always stood so confident, how he was always ready to hug him and just be there whenever he could. The way his whole face become alight when he heard something that he truly thought it was funny.

But it didn't matter now. They weren't together anymore, they were just friends. Shōyō knew that they shouldn't talk about things like that, nothing good would come from it.

“You have to see it, Shōyō. It’s so beautiful,” Miya said softly. 

“Atsumu…” Hinata said as a warning while he tried to control his emotions.

“Sorry, babe,” he said. “I just miss you,” he whispered. 

Just for an instant, Shōyō allowed himself to wish that things had gone in another way with Atsumu, but they both knew that their relationship wouldn’t led to anywhere since the start. There was no way that their relationship could last since they barely could arranged to meet, with their busy schedules and secrets.

And they were good as friends, really. When they both had agreed that the breaking up was the best decision, it hadn't been so terrible that they felt the need to avoid each. Instead, they just continued talking and slowly found new places on their lives, accepting that they weren't together anymore.

He didn't know what it was that it had set Atsumu off this night or exactly he was thinking, but Shōyō hoped that it was just a momentary thing because he just couldn't deal with it right now. His head was already having a hard enough time trying to understand just why Kenma had assumed he liked Kei. 

"I know," Hinata answered, not daring to agree that he missed him too but also without the heart to deny it.

Yes, the with Atsumu belonged to the past. But he didn’t know if it was luck or not that he hadn't got too involved with him, because he knew that he was somebody that he could love one day. If they had spend just a bit much longer on a relationship, Shōyō wasn't sure he could act like nothing had happened.

"I'm sorry," Miya said and Hinata wasn't sure what he was apologizing for. For their relationship? For ending it up? For bringing it up?

Hinata didn't know. He didn't know what he wanted the answer to be either. So he just didn’t ask.

"Hey, it's okay," he said quietly. "Did you heard about our new song?" he asked, wishing that it would break the weird atmosphere.

Miya answered and they continued to talk as if nothing had happened. They said their goodbyes much later and Hinata turn off the call as soon he heard Miya saying I love you.

Maybe it was an overreaction of his part, because Miya had said those words to him even before they had anything and he had said it to his friends too.

Hinata stared at his wall, hoping that it would give him the answers he needed. Why he still was so affected by Miya?

Before that call, he had thought he had truly left all his feelings for the past. In the last weeks, he had truly just thought of him as a friend and thought that it was finally the closure that he had waiting for. But if that was what it was, how come he felt so shake?

XXX

Suga was tired but he couldn't sleep. He didn't know exactly what had drove him restless that night, just that he was feeling bad enough to get up from his bed and leave his room. 

He was watching crap television on the living room, while ignoring how very tired he would feel one the next day, when he heard footsteps.

He wondered who it would be and he was surprised to see it was Hinata, but without his usual smile. He didn’t look quite right, as if there was something something going on his mind that he just couldn’t deal with it alone. He didn’t even appeared to have notice that he was there. 

He knew there was something wrong right way and his thoughts speed up, trying to think what could be and how to help him.

"What happened?" He inquired.

Hinata jumped, caught off guard. He hadn't expected somebody else to be awake, seeing how late it was.

"Come on, son," Suga said with a smile. “You can tell me”.

Hinata smiled a little bit too. It had started as a joke when the members called Suga mum and Daichi father, but somehow along the way they had truly become that. Everybody know there were the first ones you go to if you had trouble.

"It's just…" Hinata hesitated, uncomfortable. He wanted to share it, but wasn’t he making a big deal out of nothing? He was fine, nothing was wrong. "Miya called,” he explained.

Suga's eyes flashed with understanding. He was the one who knew most about him and the other idol, Kageyama had never been good for those type of conversations.

He had been happy when Hinata finally found someone who seemed to make him happy, yet he had been so worried with how things would end, because he couldn’t see a happy end to it. Unfortunately, idols and romance didn't mix too well.

"Tell me about it," he pleaded, promising to himself that if Miya had hurt his son he would pay, no matter where he was.

So Hinata did, also sharing about how confused he had felt when they hung up. He didn't know if he still liked him or not. Was he just a friend? Or something more? He didn’t had a lot of exes to know what was all those feelings.

"I don't know if I should do anything," he admitted, when he finished.

He knew that breaking up with Miya had been the right thing, but what should he do if one of them felt like being friends wasn't enough? He couldn't imagine himself chasing Miya, but how should he react if he brought something like that again?

"I can't tell you what to do, Hinata," Suga said firmly, knowing that the choice had to come from Hinata.

“But…” Hinata protested. “You know us. Do you think Miya truly loved me? Maybe I was too rash to end things?” he asked insecure.

Suga stared at him, trying to gather all his thoughts, afraid to make things worse. He wondered why problems like this always seemed to find him.

"I don't think Miya was the one for you. I don't know, I just have a feeling that you can be happier. I don't know. Maybe it's just me trying to give you the impossible," he shrugged. He paused then added: “I also think that when real love is there, you don’t have to ask yourself if that person loves you. I think that deep down, you already know it,” he said. 

Shōyō looked to him impressed as he processed the words. It was a strange notion, but he could make some sense from what Suga was saying. His mother always said that love was shown through actions, so maybe it would be easier to see it. Never before, Shōyō had trouble to know that somebody else had loved him - even with Kageyama he had known without the boy needing to say these words - with the only exception being his father and now Miya. 

It was like, he had no doubts that Atsumu cared deeply for him and loved him, but he wasn’t so sure he loved _loved_ him in that way or if he was something close. 

And should even matter how much Atsumu loved him? Did _he_ loved him? Shōyō didn’t think so. He had thought so, a time ago, even said the words a thousand times. But now he couldn’t help but think that there was still something missing, that he wouldn’t be able to deal with their break up so well if he really did.

Besides, he couldn’t just ignore Kenma’s strange suspicious that he liked Tsukishima. He was wrong about the sentiment, but he wasn’t about the attraction. If he liked Miya, should he still care about other guys? Should he still want to do all that with Tsukishima? He didn’t remember being attracted to someone in special while he was dating Atsumu. 

“Hey, it’s okay, you don’t have to figure out everything at once,” Suga said gently. “For now, why don’t you just watch a movie with me?”

Shōyō nodded grateful. Suga was truly the best.

“Suga…”

“Yes?” the other answered distracted as he went through the channels once more. 

“Can I cuddle with you?” he asked, shyly. It had been something the members had done more than once, but still wasn’t something he was very proud to ask for.

Suga laughed, thinking how funny it was that Hinata still got embarrassed with it. Yeah, maybe it was kind of strange, but their family had found out years ago that it helped to deal with the all the stress from the idol life and why the hell not?

“Sure, come here,” he said and Hinata obliged it.

xxx

Hinata was distracted, Tsukishima could tell, he didn’t have the same energy that he always did. He was getting more reproached than usual while they recorded the last song for their new album.

Suga kept looking at him too, as if afraid that he was ill or something like that. He must known something.

“Hinata, can you please get this right?” Tsukishima said, unable to hold himself when boy messed up _again_.

“And you call _me_ king,” he heard Kageyama complaining. He couldn’t care less.

He had expected Hinata to snap at him or something like that, but he didn’t, he just looked at him defeated. It was so strange and so wrong. 

“Sorry, I just didn’t sleep well,” he said, convincing no one. 

After that, they all returned recording. Hinata got better, coming back to how he usually sang and he seemed more alert now. Kei continued worried, but he didn’t know what to do. It wasn’t like he knew how to comfort people or even what was the problem.

xxx

Hinata was more than happy when he had finally got his sleep. Before, be had stayed up until late talking with Miya and then Suga and he deeply regretted it. He had trouble in concentration himself today and he felt guilt for letting the guys down, failing to do his part on the song and he just knew he had delayed the recording. 

But that didn’t matter now, because he had finally managed to sleep and he was feeling pretty better. He still thought about Suga’s words. He still missed Atsumu, but now that his mind was clear he could see that he had made the right decision. He would always like him, but he also wanted him as a friend and nothing more. Whatever little romantic feeling he still had for him, just wasn't enough.

“Good morning”, he said when he passed through Noya, Yamaguchi and Tsukishima. 

The blonde smiled when he saw that Hinata looked like he had come back to normal.

xxx

Akaashi wondered if his plan had failed. It has already been a few weeks since he suggested to Kuroo that Kei might Kenma and the boy still hadn’t done anything. He had truly thought that something would have come up by now. 

He knew that he would know if something did happen with them, because he could read them both like an open book, and besides he knew what he was looking for. 

Kuroo was indeed acting strangely, from what he had gathered from Yaku, but Kenma remained the same, which meant that none of the idiots had confessed yet. 

Well, it was worth to try, at least. And he bet that soon enough Kei and Kuroo would ending up talking about Hinata.

xxx

In the next day, Hinata, totally rested and looking for a distraction from all his problems, decided to wake up Kageyama. 

"Kageyama," Hinata shouted excited, entering the room where until now Kageyama slept like a baby. “KAGEYAMA. KAGEYAMAAAA, WAKE UP!” he screamed, knowing it would annoy him, but it was so easy.

Kageyama just ignored him, trying to get back to his very nice dream. Of course, this got a little more complicated when he felt a heavy weight on him and he groaned, knowing too well that it was Hinata. 

“Rise and shine,” Hinata sang.

Kageyama cursed whomever let him watch Merlin. He didn’t need the additional inspiration to be annoying in the morning.

"What is it, dumbass?" Kageyama said as grumpy as ever. He was never one to wake up early.

Then he felt Hinata getting off him and for a moment, he was happy, thinking that he would finally have peace. Maybe it wasn’t too late to continue his dream.

"Come to the mall with me, please," Shōyō asked, grabbing his blanket and effectively throwing it way.

"No," he answered only. This was his fucking Sunday and he would sleep a little more, thank you.

"Argh, Kageyama, don't be so mean," Shōyō complained.

Kageyama tried to ignore him, but he just kept talking and talking. He even threw a pillow at his face! At some point, he had enough and looked to him with his deadly look. 

“Fine, I’ll be up now,” hissed him.

Shōyō smiled happy at him and all Kageyama felt was irritation. He didn’t know why he hadn’t murder his best friend before, but he was this close to doing so now.

“Will you come to the mall with me?” he insisted. “I did coffee for you,” he offered as if that was enough to make up for waking up him when he didn’t need to. 

Kageyama was ready to tell him to fuck himself, when he reminded that he actually needed to shop clothes. His mom was always complaining that he was seen too many times with the same ones and the others guys from Karasuno weren’t. To make things worse, both Ukai and Shimizu agreed with her, saying they were already going to address the issue.

"Alright, but if you aren't ready in 15 minutes, I won't go," warned Kageyama.

He stretched himself as soon as he out of the bed, brushed his teeth, before taking a fast shower. Then he got dressed and finally took his coffee, feeling awake for the first time.

As he expected, he got ready before Hinata and started scrolling through the Instagram. He saw a photo of Oikawa and that got him wondering why he was always around people who took too long to clean themselves.

He recalled Iwa-chan arguing with Oikawa because he was always late to everything. Of course, the boy defended himself saying that nothing could rush perfection. Somehow, even Kageyama was involved on their fights, with Oikawa saying how unfair it was that he got ready so fast and the girls were all over him. 

Kageyama shook his head. All of this was in the past, back when they almost became part of the same group. Thankfully, he didn't have to face Oikawa anymore.

xxx

**your-sun reblogged kagehina4ever**

[Image]

**kagehinareligion**

they look so sexy

**myhinata**

take that tsukkihina shippers

KAGEHINA IS BACK

\----------

**aka-a-shi**

i wish i could look this good shopping

Source: kagehinareligion #kagehina #shopping #bae #hinata shoyo #kageyama tobio #so sexy #save me

13,671 notes

xxx

“Stop staring at me, it’s creeping me out,” Kenma announced in a bored tone to Kuroo.

Kuroo looked away, guilty. Since he had seen the video about Tsukishima and Akaashi had come up with the idea that Kei might like Kenma, he had been feeling down. 

It has been years since he had first noticed that he liked Kenma and he had entrainted the possibility of telling him so many times that it wasn’t even funny anymore. So many times he wished he could just grab his hand and take him on a date, to kiss him until he forget his name or doing things that he couldn’t even think about in the daylight.

Fears had always held him back. The possibility of never more be the one gaining a smile from Kenma was a scary one. To not have him there to cheer him when everything looked bad. Kenma was everything on his life, he was always had been.

Besides, it never appeared to be the right moment. First, they had been so young. Then, they were trainees and he couldn’t risk jeopardizing their future. Now, they were famous idols who could never open up about it. So what would be the point of saying if they would have to keeping hiding?

But if Tsukishima did liked Kenma… it would change things. Tsukishima was a mean guy, ironic and bad humored, but he was also so handsome, confident, smart and talented. What if Kenma liked him back?

He would wish them his best, of course. But he would swollen on misery.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> link of the image: https://www.pinterest.pt/pin/849632285937178531/


	9. America tour: Part 1

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Karasuno travels to do a tour and Hnata realizes something important.

Kei wanted to say that he liked to do American tours and it was truth, at some extension. Yet there was a thing that he strong disliked about it - the travelling. It took hours and plenty of connections to get where they were supposed to do the first show.

When he had first traveled by airplane, he had promised himself that he would get used to it. He couldn't control the panic that he felt as the airplane took off, and he had to trust completely the machine and the ones operating it to not fall down. 

Hypothetically, he knew that the chances of him dying were actually smaller there than by car accident, but his brain couldn't stop imagining how terrible it would be if something went wrong and everyone died. 

He never understood all those people that said they liked to fly. Who the hell thought like that?

He pushed his bag and his eyes found the figure of Hinata. There it was someone that liked flying, he somehow managed to get totally calm and quiet in airplanes (Suga had cry from joy when he had first found about it, saying something about how he would finally have peace).

"Oi, Kei, aren't you excited?" Hinata asked. 

"Yep, I'm just dying to be stuck on a plane with you and the king for hours," he said with as much as irony as he could manage. 

He was still cursing whomever had decided to arrange the seats arrangements (he didn't buy Daichi's excuse that it was random at all).

"Let me stay on the window seat," the redhead pleaded. 

"Fine," he said simply. He wanted to get away as much as possible from the window. It would be perfect if he could forgot all about the thousands of meters separating him and the ground. 

Hinata looked at him, as if unsure how to take Kei's easy acceptance, which it was fair. Then he walked away and started a conversation with Ennoshita. 

xxx

Hinata refused to let Kageyama and Tsukishima's small fights get on his way of enjoying the flight. They had argued about everything, even about who should sit where - in the end had been decided by Suga throwing a coin, so it had become Hinata (by the window, but his was already decided), Kei (in the middle) and Kageyama (the passenger seat).

Thankfully, they both were quiet now and Hinata could truly enjoying the amazing view that was right in front of him. 

He liked it so much that he had considered becoming a pilot once, before he had learned he literally couldn't take the exam because he would be too short. It had crushed him a little, because it wasn't even a matter that maybe one day he wouldn't pass, it was certainty that he couldn't do it, no matter what he did. 

He had forgot about those dreams until the next time he had traveled by airplane. Then, he had decided that even if he couldn't make this his profession, he would travel as much as he could and even learned to pilot if he could. He still hadn't the time to learnt it, as busy as he was, but he had certainly traveled a lot. 

It had never become boring, he always felt refreshed when he left a airplane. Because he felt like while he was on the air, he was nobody and capable of everything at same time, it was like for a few seconds he could believe that his life was actually his own. 

For a second, he took his eyes out of the view and looked around him. Kageyama looked to be busy playing a video game, with his earbud on. Tsukishima was also hearing music, with his eyes close, but a frown was clear on his face. 

Shōyō watched him for a second, thinking that something was off, but he couldn't quite place it. Only when Kei jumped slightly with a small shack from the airplane it was that he remembered. The blonde boy was afraid of flying. 

Many fans had asked him how he deal with it, when they learned that this was his fear. Tsukishima had replied that he could managed it, that he didn't let it take over him.

Of course, Karasuno had tried to think about a way to make it better, but Kei had pushed everyone off, saying it was his damn business and he was a big guy. He had threatened to kill them all if they didn't forget all about it and soon every member pretended that he was fine, when he clearly wasn't. 

Hinata didn't know why, but remembering all this suddenly made him felt bad. He wanted to help the boy, to make him see airplanes in the same way he did. 

"Ei," he called Kei, unsure of what to do next, but willing to try something. 

The boy just ignored him or maybe he didn't hear him, considering he was with his earbud. He had to put his hand on his shoulder and notice how he tensed, before the boy looked at him, question in his eyes. Hinata signed to him to take his earbud off. 

"What?" He asked. 

For once, Hinata didn't mind the tone of his words, too worried about him. 

"Listening, I was thinking and I have to know. What Harry Potter movie do you think it is the best?"

Kei looked to him as if wondering what was wrong with him and honestly Hinata admitted that this wasn't his best. But hey, he was panicking, alright? He had no idea of what to say, just that maybe it would be better for him if the time passed faster and how Kei shouldn't realize what he was doing if he wanted to survived. 

"I'm done talking with you," he said and started to put his earbud back. Hinata stopped him in the middle of it, through, using his hand to grab his arm. "What?"

"Talk to me," he pleaded, not caring of how strange it must’ve sound. If it was for Kei's good, he would do it. 

"Hum, okay. I guess... the second one?"

"What? That's nobody's favorite," Hinata protested. It wasn’t like the movie was indeed bad, but come on, who was him next to _Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban_? 

"Fine, you got me. I don't like Harry Potter much," he confessed. 

Hinata rattled about what absurd this was, with Kei looking ready to sleep at any time, but he managed to keep the boy's attention on himself. It had got better when they traded the topic to Star Wars, which Kei truly liked and held a lot of opinions. 

At some point, Kei had let out a yawn - Hinata found it cute. But he wasn't the only sleepy one, Kageyama was already sleeping peacefully next to them.

Hinata congratulated himself for his success when Kei actually started sleeping too. He almost never managed to get rest on airplanes, so he must have done something right. 

The redhead smiled to himself when he felt Kei's head resting on his shoulders. He smiled as he passed his hand through Kei's so very soft hair. He kept doing that for a long time, feeling totally calm and his gaze focused only on the boy. 

He reminded that time when Kei had woke up him so gently when he had accidentally fallen asleep in the restaurant. He smiled even more. 

He threw his glare away from him, unconsciously trying to hide from him how he was grinning (even if there was no way Kei would know right now). Then he was looking at the view of the clear sky, that he usually could stare for hours but he hadn't even reminded that it existed while he was seeing Kei instead. 

Then the thoughts that went through his mind were simple: _Fuck. I can't believe it. Kenma was right. I like Kei._

He stopped moving his hand, as he could feel his own heart beating. It was almost fun now how he had thought a couple of weeks before that maybe he wasn’t completely over Atsumu. It had been so many months that Atsumu had managed to drag from him any powerful feeling, except for longing, but Kei? He had somehow become so important to his life that he just couldn’t imagine passing a day without him. 

It was a lot to take in, that his attraction to Kei wasn’t just that. That now it went beyond of how handsome he looked and was more about how annoying but adorable he was. 

Kei could be a lot to handle, but there was no denying that by now Shōyō would do almost anything to make the boy happy and see once more he laughing like he had done in the beach. 

xxx

Kei woke up feeling well. For once, he had managed to sleep on the airplane and only come back from dreaming land when Kageyama had (very rudely) woke him, saying that that they needed to go.

His mind wasn’t working as usual, so he didn’t notice how Hinata seemed keen on getting away from him as fast as possible. He just smiled to his fans, that were waiting for them at the airport. 

But he started to get a headache with how much they were screaming. He knew it was wrong to resent them for that, they were just happy of seeing them, but that didn’t change it ruined his good mood.

By the time that he managed to finally get to his room - so quiet -, his head look like it was trying to kill him. He didn’t even bother to unpack, just throwing himself in the bed. 

As tradition and an old arrangement made with Ukai, they got to only make the rest of the travel tomorrow. They got the rest of the day to themselves, before having to give their soul to the tour.

Kei had planned on spending it all sleeping, but he didn't count with the fact that for once, he was actually rested.

He thought about what Hinata was doing. Everyone knew that he and Noya always left the hotel to explore as soon as it was possible.

xxx

Kageyama laughed as Hinata lost, _again_.

As soon as they got themselves settled at the hotel, Kageyama had come to Hinata’s room to call him to a little competition at the gym. Of course, he was confident he would win, but he didn’t expect the other to fail so much. 

Hinata on the other hand didn’t even react. He wasn’t really there, all his thoughts were still on the new thing he had discovered. He knew he had acted like a high school boy by avoiding Kei as he realized his feelings, through the blonde probably hadn’t realized it yet (he would’ve complained).

He just… was caught off guard. If he thought he would fall for somebody before, Tsukishima wouldn’t cross his mind. 

But the feeling was too real.

He didn’t know what to do. 

“Hey, idiot, why did you stop moving?” Kageyama asked, interrupting his thoughts.

Hinata tried to smile to reassure him.

“Is something wrong? Are you okay? Is Natsu okay?” Tobio asked suspicious.

Hinata smiled for real this time. He felt a little warm with the thought that his best friend worried so much about his little sister and was actually acting like a human being for once. 

“I’m fine,” he lied. 

“ _Right_ ,” Kageyama answered, showing how much he believed it. 

Hinata sighed. He didn’t want Kageyama or anyone to know it, because it was personal and so fresh. He knew it would never lead to anything either, so no need to make things awkward.

“Can we just not talk about it?” he pleaded. 

Kageyama hesitated, as if trying to find out what would be the correct best friend protocol (he really wasn’t good with these things). Then he nodded, for which Hinata was grateful.

“Do you want to take a walk?” Kageyama offered. “I don’t feel like staying here, doing nothing, and you clear won’t be doing any exercise soon”.

Hinata was extremely offended, but he got his point. 

“Let me just change my clothes,” he asked with his face making a small frown. The last thing he needed right now was the media talking about how undressed he was.

“Yeah, I’ll have to change too,” Kageyama said, looking to the mirror. Ukai would definitely kill them if they got out during a tour looking like that. “But try not to stay too long in the shower, I don’t have all day”.

Hinata promised himself that he would take much longer as he was planning to get out of the shower. 

xxx

“Daichi, are you sure we shouldn’t invite them to go out with us?” Suga asked for the nth time. He just couldn’t help himself. His boys tended to attract trouble.

“Yes, Suga,” said Daichi patiently. “Besides, Noya will be with us, so it’s one less troublemaker. And Tanaka is doing something with Ennoshita”.

Against that, Suga couldn’t argument.

“It’s just, you know how Kageyama and Hinata got lost all the times nobody was with them and they decide to explore the city,” he reasoned. 

Daichi knew it was true, but still. They could look after themselves, he was sure. He was ready to argue with Suga when he saw his face and knew that there was no point. Thinking about how Noya and Asahi probably were already waiting for them, he gave up.

“If it makes you feel better, why don’t you just ask Yamaguchi and Tsukishima to keep an eye on them?” he suggested. The other two could be difficult to handle, but for reasons very different from Kageyama and Hinata, so they could act as the voice of reason. Probably.

“I think I’ll,” he admitted. 

“You know, that’s why they call you mom,” Daichi teased him.

“Shut up, dad”.

xxx

Hinata had to admit that going out with Kageyama had been good. He knew he should be grateful for always having his best friend close, but it was rare that they could do something just the two of them. 

He made Kageyama pay for all his jokes, forcing him to go shopping with him. Hinata made sure to enter all the stores that came across their way. The best part of it all it was that Kageyama had to smile through it all, because they kept being stopped by fans that wanted a picture or an autograph. 

When he finally had enough and was about to tell Kageyama that they could go to somewhere else, a shirt got his attention. It was a very flashy pink and had the name of the city written in an horrible yellow. And it had a picture of the town that looked like it had come directly from a printer. 

It was probably one of the worst shirts he had ever seen and he smiled, thinking about someone who probably be horrified by it. Oh, how Kei would hate it.

“Hi?” Hinata said, calling the seller. He gave his best I’m-sorry-I-don’t-speak-your-language smile. “Can I get one of this?”

The seller still looked at him like he didn’t understand so Hinata grab the shirt and opened his wallet, taking his credit card. Now he understood and immediately helped him.

“Why are you buying this?” Kageyama asked incredulous. It had to be the worst thing they saw that day.

Hinata shrugged, smiling.

They left the shop not long after and were about to go eat (unfortunately, just a salad), when Kageyama got a couple of messages from Yamaguchi asking if he could join them.

Hinata wanted to refuse, knowing that there was no way that Tsukishima wouldn’t be with him, but he couldn’t without making himself suspicious. It looked like he would’ve to face Kei earlier than he thought. 

xxx

Yamaguchi was glad to spend time with his friends. It was obvious that he adored Kei, but he liked Hinata and Kageyama too. He wasn’t going to lie, he had been a bit scared by the later first, but as he got used to him, he saw that deep down he was actually nice and just didn’t know how to express himself. With Hinata had been different, because how could someone not like him? He had known he was a great guy since the start and was proved right.

So, even if it had come as favour when Suga asked him to found them, it still didn’t change that he thought it would be fun. And things weren’t horrible, but it wasn’t been fun either. He hadn’t notice how he relayed on Hinata to make small conversation, until he wasn’t doing it.

Yamaguchi had no idea what was with Hinata, but he looked a lot more thoughtful today and was mostly keeping to himself. Both Kageyama and Tsukishima had teased him, trying to gain a reaction, but he just laughed it off. 

“Hm, I think I’m going to grab a juice now,” the Tadashi announced, unable to handle when the silence stretch for way too long.

“I’ll go with you,” offered Kageyama. He wasn’t anxious to be left practically alone with Tsukishima.

xxx

Hinata knew it was his fault that the mood was weird. Despite his promises to himself, he still didn’t know how to face Kei with the knowledge that he liked him.

“Hinata,” Kei called him. “Why are you being so weird?” he sounded curious and a bit worried.

“Nothing,” Shōyō replied.

He mentally facepalmed himself. Where his ability to lie had gone?

“I got a gift for you,” he blurted out when it looked like the other would retort. 

“What?”

Hinata grabbed the bag that he putted on the floor next to him and handed it over, glad to have something that would catch his attention. 

“Why now? It’s not my birthday,” he murmured. 

“Yeah, I know, but you’ll love it, for sure,” Hinata said, barely containing his laugh. 

Kei looked to him one more time, before opening it. His face went from incredulous to incredible mad, and Shōyō was sure that he did hate it as much as he imagined. 

“I don’t want it,” he said, trying to give the horrible shirt to him.

“No, no, I don’t accept take back. Sorry,” Hinata said smugly. “But I knew you’d love it, the reminder of our wonderful trip,” he declared.

“As if,” Kei snorted. 

Shōyō smiled, suddenly feeling all his panic going away. He still hadn’t figured out what to do about his feelings, but at the moment it didn’t matter. He knew he would’ve fun with Kei and his friends for the rest of the night and that was it. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> For those of you that are wondering, is a real the fact that you can't be a pilot if you have a certain height. It varies from country to country and sometimes to flight company too, so in some Hinata could be a pilot, but in some not. Like, from what I searched, Lufthansa company policy stipulates that pilots must measure at least 165 cm (5'5") and taking Hinata height was upon entering the first year of high school, 162.8 cm, and grew to 164.2 cm halfway through the school year, when he first looked into it, he thought he wouldn't make it. So I'm not considering his actual height.  
> And for those that read the manga, did you get the inside joke? I couldn't stop myself.


	10. America tour: Part 2

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Things go a little unplanned in the end of Karasuno's tour.

Hinata felt alive. He loved shows, he loved interacting with the crowd. When he was up there, he became truly who he should be. 

“Next one is my new favorite,” he said to the crowd over his microphone. “ _I woke up today…_ ”

For his delight, many people started to sing it back, recognizing the song with the first phrase. It still made him want to cry, hearing so many people putting their own voices and hearts to join this moment with them. 

In that moment, he didn't think about how hard it was to get it right or how much effort he put into it. He just enjoyed the feeling of being surrounded by people that were all cheering for him and watching him and his friends. He could hear how much they screamed and he loved them too.

He danced along with the song, but his heart was truly in the lyrics. He had thought that it was so beautiful. 

He smiled even more when he looked around and saw how into the moment Tsukishima was, executing perfectly the moves he was supposed to as he kept singing. 

xxx

The next days went like this, with various different stages with the sames songs and people screaming. Kei loved it. His favorite part of being an idol always been this, where he actually got to sing.

No matter how much he sang and danced, he never got off of the stage feeling tired. He was just still high on the energy, on all the voices, all the people watching him, wanting him, to be him. 

He wasn’t dumb, he knew that some people that came to their shows weren’t actually fans and could easily turn their back on him, but he felt so powerful up there. He felt incredible, and he knew that a big part of the crowd did love in him, in their own strange ways. 

So, maybe that was why when Tanaka asked if he anyone was up for a little party as an after show, he said yes, drawing strange looks. This was their last show in their town and they soon would be getting home. So, why not?

It didn’t come as surprise when Yamaguchi said he would be going too. He then turned to Hinata and Kageyama and called them to go too.

“Sure,” Hinata agreed. Kageyama nodded. 

In the end, they all decided to go, even through Asahi was saying he really needed to sleep. They let Ukai know (he wasn’t happy about it).

“Who is throwing this party, anyway?” Suga asked.

Tsukishima noticed the way that Tanaka got red. Hum, so there was something there. Interesting. 

“My friend, Amanai,” he answered. 

Of course, the boys started to make fun of him and wondering what his friend would be like. 

“Wait, I think I know this name,” Hinata speculated. “Is she an idol?”

“Yeah, debuted a while ago. Her group is starting to get big and they are doing their first tour here,” he explained. 

This only served for them to make even more fun of him. Tsukishima joined them.

xxx

A few hours later, most of them were already drunk. Turns out, there were only the members of Niiyama Girls there (Tanaka had lied), through the girls seemed to be having fun. And they enjoyed this rare opportunity of no photos or journalist lurking around to let go a little.

They had all got along well and Tsukishima could even see himself befriending some of the girls in future. Through, that maybe be because he was also drunk.

He got up to grab more tequila - he loved this drink -, but somehow he ended up away from everyone else, in some girl’s room. 

He thought that maybe it would be a good idea to sit on the bed, to see if things stopped moving. He was about to do that when a great idea hit him and he jumped to his feet, laughing as he thought about how silly he was. 

Kei started to go to the window, but he stopped and titled his head as he saw an orange and ugly suitcase in the middle of the room - he had to give some fashion tips to whoever lived there. Oh, no, not live! Stupid Kei, someone was just staying there.

Anyway, he managed to get next to the window and smiled as he finally found what he wanted. The moon was so pretty!

“Kei? Is… you?” he heard a voice call him. 

It didn’t cross his mind to look around. The moon was pretty and he wanted to look at it.

“Hm, are you… not Kei?” the same person said again, this time touching his shoulder. 

He turned and closed his eyes, trying to slow down how fast everything was moving. When he opened it again, Shōyō stared at him curious.

“I’m Kei,” Kei greeted. 

“I know,” Shōyō replied. 

They both laughed. 

“I’m looking at the moon,” Kei announced. 

“Why?” he asked as if he was curious.

“Dunno know,” Kei said after thinking hard. “But is pretty,” he said as if that settled things.

Shōyō moved, so he was close enough to view what he was seeing too. He stared at the moon then back at Kei.

“I don’t understand,” he said.

Kei just looked confused to him.

“The moon is pretty,” the redhead explaining in a serious tone, moving his hands to forms gestures that none of them knew what was. “But you… more pretty,” he concluded. 

Kei continued to stare at him, not understanding. 

“Prettier than the moon?” he asked.

“Yes!” Hinata agreed, excited. 

Kei thought hard about that idea. He didn’t think he was pretty. Not more than the moon. But…

“You’re prettier,” he declared as the solution came to his mind. That was it.

Hinata looked happy with the information. He looked at Kei, seeing his beautiful face, and he was just so damn happy (everything was great, he could do anything), he leaned in and kissed him.

Kei made a noise, surprised. Hm. Hinata’s lips felt good. Like, really good. Better than he imagined. He just felt it, doing nothing for a few seconds, with his mind strangely blank. Then he let his tongue explore Hinata’s mouth a little, more than happy.

But Hinata got away from him. 

Shōyō himself knew that deep down, he shouldn’t being doing this, that there was some kind of problem with it. He just couldn’t remember what it was or why it was so important. Ah. Tsukishima probably didn’t like him.

“Sorry?” Hinata asked.

“Hm,” Tsukishima answered. “I don’t care,” he said honestly and kissed him again.

Just as they were about to do more, Kei’s phone rang. He and Hinata stared curiously at it, wondering if it would stop alone. It didn’t. 

Kei pressed the button to answer the call and Hinata put his head next to him, to hear it.

“Hey, bro, are you back from the tour?” Kuroo’s voice filled the room. “Kei?”

“Hi!” Hinata greeted. 

“Hm, hi, Hinata?” Kuroo sounded lost. 

“Kenma,” Hinata called.

Kei frowned. Why did Hinata wanted to see Kenma?

“Tsukishima, are you there?” Kuroo asked ignoring Hinata.

Hinata didn’t look happy at being ignored. 

“Let me talk to Kenma! I miss him,” he said. 

“Kuroo,” Kei greeted.

“Where are you?” Kuroo sounded annoyed.

“Hm…” Kei looked to Hinata. He couldn’t remember. 

“Party! Hotel,” he informed. Oh, yes.

“Hey, listen up, you two, I need you to do something for me okay?” Kuroo said, grabbing their attention. “Do you think you manage to go to the kitchen?”

This sound cool. Maybe it was a mission? Kei would win, for sure.

“If I do that, I can… talk to Kenma?” Hinata asked.

“Yes, Hinata,” Kuroo said and keep talking to them. He instructed them to grab the vodka that was inside the fridge. 

“This looks like water,” Kei said, unsure. It really looked like water.

“Is not,” promised Kuroo. “I need you to find the two biggest cup of there”.

Hinata and Kei rushed to does as he said, but it was a fight doomed from the start. Kei smiled victorious as he managed to grab the cups that were too high for Hinata.

“I won,” Kei declared.

“Great, now I need you to put that vodka inside those cups, as much as you can,” Kuroo instructed.

“Me!” Hinata said, grabbing it from Kei’s hands. He did do it, through some of it spilled over the kitchen. “I win”.

“Now, this is the most important part, I want you two to drink it all up. Whoever finishes first, win,” he said. “One, two…” but they both were already drinking it.

Hinata managed to finish before Kei this time and proudly declared so.

“Ok, that’s it, bye,” Kuroo said and hung off before they could say anything.

Shōyō and Kei looked at each other unsure of what to do next.

“Music,” Hinata said happily when he heard it.

They followed it, still too drunk to think much about the kiss, joing the others. 

xxx

On the next morning, Kei was more than glad for what Kuroo had done. He knew without a doubt that what they had drink was indeed water, because his head started to get clearer not much after it. 

He didn’t know what he would’ve done if he had gone further with Hinata in the way they were yesterday - of course, a small part of him still wanted it, but he didn’t want it to happen like this. It would only be a thing that happened because they were there and drunk, and not because they actually fancied each other.

Kei knew that for all his teasing, Hinata only saw him as friend and didn’t want to mess up their relationship. That was why he shouldn’t get involved. 

But thinking about it now, he was curious as to why Kuroo had called him.

xxx

Shōyō was glad too that nothing more had happened. It was embarrassing enough that he had kissed Kei like that. He putted his hand over his face, hiding himself from the world, as he recalled one more time of how he had kissed Kei. 

He had been too obvious. That way would be clear to everyone to see that he liked Kei and that would ruin everything. 

Also, he knew that Kei had only kissed him because he was drunk. Hell, Hinata himself had kissed a lot of people because of it. So, he knew he shouldn’t hope for anything more.

Yes, kissing Kei had been amazing, he knew that. But it was an one time thing, so he should forget all about it.

He thought about having to see Kei in person again, knowing that he would’ve to do that in just a few minutes, and not knowing what to do. He grabbed his phone, opening his chat with Kei, deciding that it would be better if he did that without seeing him, to make sure he didn’t let anything out about his feelings.

He didn’t know what to say exactly so he decided to start simple:

Tsukishima  
  
hey  
  
hi  
  
sorry for yesterday  
i was drunk  
no big deal  
i was drunk too  
yeah  
lets just forget about it  
ok  


He told himself that he wasn’t sad with the way Kei had brushed off everything quickly. He had others things to deal right now, like the way his stomach was growling.

xxx

“You all look terrible,” Ukai informed them, his disapproval clear. “I’m never letting you guys go out again”.

“Sorry,” they all said. Yeah, even Tsukishima.

“I need you all to pretend that you’re sober, so whoever looks like death, please put a fucking sunglass and some make up before we head to the airport,” he warned.

So almost all of them did, with the exception of Suga and Ennoshita - seriously how much they could drink? They never passed out! Even Kageyama had wake up in a bad shape, from what Shōyō had heard. 

Kageyama had drink too much yesterday. Shōyō remembers taking shots and dancing with him, before they were approached by some of the girls. He also knows that his best friend had been dared by someone and had called Oikawa just to say fuck you to him and hang up. And this was just what he knew, but he didn’t saw him for the most part of the party and he knew there were more things he could find out in time.

In the end, Shōyō and Kei were ones of the most sobers. They didn’t wake up feeling great, but nowhere near of how bad they’ve already been after drinking. 

“What can I do for you to take out your gift from my hands?” Kei asked, suddenly appearing near Hinata while they waited for Tanaka and Nishinoya to get ready - Ukai was already screaming with them. 

Shōyō had to control himself to not let out a scream, too surprised with his apparition. They hadn’t talk in person yet after yesterday and he would’ve overthink how this conversation would go if he had the time to think about it. Thankfully, he didn’t and it looked like Kei was acting pretty normal. 

“The shirt? It’s yours. Forever,” he said.

“I will throw it out,” he threatened. 

“No, you won’t”.

“I will”.

“Let’s go! We can’t miss the flight,” Ukai said and they all followed him, with their suitcases in hands. Time to go back home.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> ok, I suck writing about drunk people, but I did my best. At least they have finally kissed!


	11. Kei

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Hinata doesn't handle well a family issue. Thankfully, Kei is there to distract him.

Kuroo knew that it wasn’t healthy but there he was once again thinking about Kenma and Tsukishima. He still didn’t know what to do.

Two weeks ago, he had finally gathered the courage to call Tsukishima to ask him how he felt about Kenma, but that hadn’t led him anywhere. As soon as he noticed how drunk he was, he knew it was pointless. Besides, he couldn’t risk Hinata remembering anything about his call and leaking it to his best friend, no, Kozume couldn’t know about his feelings. 

Tsukishima had asked him about it, wondering why he had called. Kuroo had only said he was checking on him and that he wanted to talk about how stupid Lev was being on that day. 

Of course, his friend hadn’t sounded like he had bought it, knowing too well that Kuroo never called for stupid things like that, but he hadn’t pressed for more answers and he was grateful for that. 

What he could have said if he had to be honest? _Hey, Tsukishima, listen up. I did call you, but it was only to know if you have a crush on my friend? Oh, you do? Sure, that it is great… oh, why do I want to know? You see, I have been in love with him, for like, forever. Tsukishima? Hey, you are still there? Don’t hang up!_

It would be a nightmare. He didn’t want to lose his second-best friend, someone he always had so much fun with. If he had to pretend that he didn’t have any feelings for Kenma for things to stay like they were, so be it. 

xxx

Hinata wanted to be alone. Usually, he liked having company, but almost for as long as he remembered he liked to be left alone on this day. His mom always thought that he didn’t know when it was exactly that his father had left them, but he did. 

Yesterday, it had made precisely ten years that his father walked away from them and never came back. He always forced himself to be there for his mom on that day, cheering her as much as he could, but the following day was the day that he took to himself to mourn. 

He had learned, through the hard way, that he was a terrible company on this day too and that he would snap with really meaningless things. Because of that, it was better if he only isolated himself and didn’t talk at all.

Everything would feel better in the morning. But today nothing would feel right.

A long time ago, he stopped to feel anger towards the man that was supposed to be his father. It wasn’t like he felt anything good, though, and more like he had become indifferent to him. 

So on this day, he didn’t think about his father as the man he once knew. But as the father that he wished he had. If he was being honest, the man was a mix of all his other father figures - Ukai, Takeda, Daichi. Even the fathers of his friends appeared, like Kageyama Kaito and Izumi Takeo.

Anyway, he was trying to think nothing at all when he managed to sneak out of his house and headed to the bar. Today, he would fall apart.

xxx

Kenma  
  
shoyo  
  
where the hell are u  
  
hihhi kemnk  
i just saw a photo   
of u drinking alone  
please tell this isn't now  
he doesns want to  
let mee drink  
shit, i'll call u  
u better answer

xxx

Tsukihina CEO   
@meuhinata   
I just saw the video and the thing Hinata is trying to say is Tsukishima's name????  ❤ 1283 15 minutes ago

xxx

Hinata knows he fucked up. His headache is killing him and he had managed to skip his morning work, by pretending that he was dying (it wasn’t so far from the truth). 

But it had only lasted so long before Ukai and Takeda had demanded to see him and threatened to drag him themselves if he didn’t show up. He was afraid of facing them, but he had no choice. 

To make things worse, Daichi’s suspicion that he was only faking it had raised enough doubt that he decided to make a little research of his own. He found what Hinata feared the most - somehow, the media got a hold of a lot of images and videos of the last night. 

He had screamed a lot with him, saying that he was crazy and if he wanted to drink so badly then to at least do it at home, not surrounded by strangers. 

The only small comfort he had it was that nobody had been with him to film as he threw up. He wrinkled his nose as he remembered it.

“Hinata, what were you thinking?” Ukai doesn’t scream with him, but this doesn’t mean that he holds back his anger. Hinata is pretty sure he has a 50% chance of making out alive. 

“You can’t do things like that,” agrees Takeda-sensei. This makes everything worse. The only person that everyone tried to not let down on Karasuno, it was him. Takeda had been with them from the start, when they weren’t sure of themselves and singing seemed impossible.

“You know you have an image to keep. What will your fans do if they see you like that?” Ukai wondered.

“I’m sorry,” he says, truthfully. He hadn’t meant to drink this much, he knew he was unable to hold his own, yet everything felt so nice. 

Keishin wished he could tell Hinata that it was alright - every teenager had a bit too much to drink at some point and he wasn’t a bad person - however things were different. Hinata was an idol and the spotlights were on him; they would tear him apart if he misbehaved too much.

“It’s okay, I know it won’t happen again,” Ukai said to Hinata firmly. 

Shōyō nodded before excusing himself, gladly that this conversation was over.

“We should keep an eye on him,” mumbled Takeda. Keinshin agreed.

xxx

Hinata hoped that at least back home he would be getting some peace, but he had no such luck.

“Are you alright?” Kageyama asked. 

Hinata smiled a little at him. He knew he wasn’t, but he didn't see the point of talking about it.

“You shouldn’t do things like that, Hinata,” Daichi said, a lot more calm now. “You scared us”.

Daichi had seen the state that Hinata had come back and it wasn’t a light drunkenness, no, he was wasted. He had seen enough to know that he was drinking to forget something. 

He wanted to ask him what was it all about, but he was also wary. Hinata was usually so open, he deserved the little bit of privacy he could get. 

“Did you eat?” Suga asked worriedly.

Hinata frowned his face. There was no way he could eat the food right now, he was feeling nauseous enough. 

“Don’t do that, you have to at least drink something,” Suga said, before exiting to the kitchen.

“How the hell did you managed to get home yesterday, if you were so drunk?” Kageyama asked him, truly interested. 

“I don’t actually remember,” he said, trying to force his memory. It was mostly black, with only flashes of what happened last night. “But I think the bartender called Kenma for help?”

Kageyama nodded, understanding. Kenma must have told him the address or called an Uber.

Hinata wished that the memory of himself saying Tsukishima’s name had been gone from his mind too. He didn’t know why he did that, just that he wanted the other’s company. But at least he thinks he didn’t text or called him - he would have to check to be sure. 

“You should drink that, because you’ll have to work this afternoon,” Tanaka informed. “Ukai just texted us warning we shouldn’t let you skip it, not even if your mother is dying”.

Hinata sighed. It would be so much fun walking around like that. 

xxx

Hours later, he heard the door of his room opening. He looked in that direction and found Kei entering his room. He looked as handsome as ever, but for once Shōyō didn’t found it intimidating. 

“I saw the video of you drunk,” Kei said.

“Yeah? Did you come to tease me?” Shōyō grunted, not into the mood.

He knew he had messed up, but he was angry too. He wished he could take just one day to be mad with the world without everyone freaking out. After all the work he did, he deserved a day to miss everything he never had.

“Not really, I just wanted to let you know that I really liked the way you said my name,” Kei said maliciously.

Despite himself, Hinata smiled. It was embarrassing that he had done such a thing, but it was so much better to talk about that then the irresponsible that he was.

And the way he said it, made him remember the kisses that they had shared and choose to ignore. He had been so sure that it was right the decision, that Kei didn’t want him.

But what if he was wrong? The other would gain nothing with flirting with him when they were alone and after everything it had happened, knowing too well that Hinata could actually get through it. 

“Come here and I’ll say it again,” he said, challenging him openly, making a sudden decision.

He wouldn’t insist if Kei didn’t respond or rejected him, but he wanted to see where this would take him. It was reckless, but he felt like it was worth the risk. He wanted to feel Kei’s lips on his own once again and without the influence of alcohol. 

Never one to back down, Kei leaned forward and left a minimum distance between them. They stared at each other, not pretending anymore that they weren’t feeling the tension that had been there for months, especially after their kisses.

“Can we do already what we’re thinking about?” Kei asked.

Hinata didn’t need to hear more, glad to have such a good distraction from his problems now. Kei's lips were softer than he remembered. Like everything they did, they fought to see who would be the one to take charge of the kiss, with Kei winning.

With his eyes close, all he could think right now was Kei and how much he wanted him. His hand couldn’t get enough of him, traveling all the way through his body. 

When they separated, he could see that Kei was so affected by it as him, by the way, he was panting. Shōyō smiled, if he was that way with just that, he couldn’t wait to see how he would be when they went all the way.

“Haven't you said that you would say my name?” Kei reminded him.

“So bossy, Kei,” Hinata replied cheekily.

Kei shut him up with his mouth. Shōyō didn’t complain at all.

Maybe things would be better now.

xxx

Kei woke up feeling strange. First, it was more hot than usual in his room. Then there was a body pressed up next to his and it felt so comfy. 

Only then he remembered that he had simply decided to stay in Hinata’s room, too tired to go to his own. He regretted nothing.

He had come just planning to distract or cheer him up, worried with the way that Hinata had been sad and angry all day. For the first time since they had kissed, he could truly say he wasn’t thinking about him like that, he only wanted to get him out of this terrible mood. 

So, he only said the thing about his name was a way to get some reaction. He honestly expected him to just brush it off, but he had been so surprised when Shōyō had openly flirted with him back, with a smug look.

Everything had been perfect and he could barely believe they had really done it. 

“Good morning,” Shōyō said, smiling to Kei.

Kei stared at him, too confused to function properly. Then he grabbed his phone to confirm his suspicions and he was right:

“It’s late,” he said, showing him the clock that marked 3 AM. “Do you have infinity energy?” this was a question that he had been wanting to do since the first day they met. 

“I got some sleep like two hours ago,” Shōyō informed him.

Kei wondered if he should ask him what was keeping him up, what had made him go alone drink in a bar. And if he thought that what they had done was a mistake (he didn’t know what he would if he said so).

He could feel Hinata’s chest going up and down as he breathed and his hand around him, though. He felt safe for once. It was his desire to know if he was okay enough to risk breaking that peace?

“Why can’t you sleep?” he inquired after a long time of silence, deciding that he had to know.

He felt Shōyō tense and wondered if he had made the wrong choice. Maybe it was too early to share something personal as that, even if Kei didn’t feel that way. 

“You know that my father left us…” he said, then he explained everything he could still remember about the day. “I remember thinking that it wasn’t a big deal, that he would come back, you know? But he never did”.

Kei could almost hear on his voice all the things that he never got to do because his father wasn’t there or that he had to learn alone because his mother simply couldn’t fulfill one hundred percent two roles and still work.

“Do you miss him?” he asked.

Kei’s own father was away for business so much that he started to realize that it was better simply not account him for anything. He couldn’t imagine not having a dad at all, though.

“Not exactly. I miss how much simpler my life could have been if he hadn’t walk away,” Shōyō said quietly.

Kei raised his hand and slowly started to touch Hinata’s hair, making the small one close his eyes. He wished he could take all his pain away.

“You know, it’s alright to be mad sometimes,” Kei said.

It was a known truth, but one that was easy to forget being an idol and with everybody expecting perfection. Everyone always acted like they couldn’t fail. 

“Thank you,” Hinata said, placing his head next to his shoulder.

Kei turned his head so he was directly facing Hinata’s hair. It smelled good and now he knew that it was also soft.

He had never stopped to think about it, but it was a beautiful red, that suited him completely. He hadn’t like at all the time Shōyō had been convinced to dye his hair black. Or when Tanaka make a bet with him and he wore it green for two weeks.

“Kei?” came Hinata’s low voice.

“Yes?”

“I don’t want this to be a one-time thing,” Shōyō said.

“Don’t worry, Shōyō, it won’t be. Tomorrow we think more about it”.

Kei knew they both were walking into trouble, but after everything that happened how could he possibly think about not being with Shōyō?

“I think this is the first time you call me that,” Hinata said, curling his lips a bit. “I like it”.

“Okay, now go to sleep” Kei ordered.

He didn’t know if he should feel disappointed or not when Hinata didn’t say anything. He sighed, knowing too well that nothing good lasts long on his life. This wouldn’t too.

He tried to sleep, but as dreams didn’t come, he started to overthink this relationship. He freaked out and opened his last text on his cell phone. He had to talk to someone and Yamaguchi wasn’t an option.

Kuroo  
  
hey  
  
are you awake?  
  
come on  
you're always parting   
you woke me up asshole  
are u okay?  
i think i like somebody  
what do i do?  
shit


	12. Everything

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Kei and Hinata deal with the next day. Kuroo is brave for once. Also, someone makes an appearance.

When the morning came, Hinata woke up alone. He thought everything was a dream and was pretty sad to have to face the real world, where the only thing that happened was that he had drunk too much and everybody knew it.

So, he was dragging himself in the kitchen, trying to cheer up when he crossed his path with Tsukishima. For once, he was wearing simple pajamas and not a fancy one. His hair also looked a bit messy.

Hinata felt himself blushing when he saw him, but he was surprised when he openly smiled at him. Kei looked around, and after making sure no one was there, he closed the distance between them and kissed him briefly. 

“Hi, Shōyō,” he greeted.

So it wasn’t a dream.

WAIT. HE ACTUALLY HAD SEX WITH TSUKISHIMA?

He couldn’t believe it. It was everything that he had been dreaming and more. It was so perfect. He couldn’t even compare to his previous experiences; everything in him had been aching for him. 

“Come run with me?” Kei offered.

Shōyō nodded, still stunned. 

“Just give me a second,” he pleaded. 

He opened the fridge and grabbed the milk, putting it in a cup. He took it as fast as he could, anxious with the idea of spending a little time alone with Tsukishima.

“Let’s go,” he said. 

“Wait, there’s something on your face,” he said, before stepping closer and removing the bit of milk that was on Hinata’s face. “Such a child,” he teased. 

Shōyō didn’t say anything, too focused on the feeling of his finger on his face. He missed it instantly when Kei stopped touching him. 

They didn’t say anything when they left the house and started running into the street, with Hinata going a bit slower than he would've usually. 

Kei asked for him to stop when they passed by the park, that it was mostly empty this soon. They sat next to each other. 

“We have to decide how we want to do it,” he said, keeping his voice low.

Hinata frowned. It was so soon, why think about things like that?

“You know we can’t go public,” Kei explained.

As much as Hinata hated it, he knew that he had to agree. If they went public, they would be risking the entire group and he wouldn’t do that to his friends. 

Still, he didn’t want to spend the rest of his life hiding who he was from his friends and family. He didn’t want to wait to be in the dark to kiss Kei or grab his hand and maybe one day even tell him that he loves him.

“But do you think that we can keep it a secret?” Hinata asked.

He wondered if he would be able to lie when Kageyama looked to him like he would kill him, or if Suga threw his disappointed look. He didn’t even want to think what would’ve happened if Daichi got into his police mood.

“It will be difficult, yeah. But it won’t be forever. And not from everyone,” Kei said, making Hinata confused. “I was thinking that we could try to keep it between us for a while, maybe one or two months?, and then tell the truth to Karasuno and only them”.

“But what about my family?” Hinata asked.

“Too many people are dangerous. But… maybe only Natsu and your mother?”

Hinata didn’t like it at all. But he could understand where he was coming from. And he didn’t have a better plan.

“Can I at least kiss you?” 

“Not here,” Kei reminded him.

Shōyō pouted, disappointed. 

xxx

Hinata felt like a teenager, sneaking in to kiss Tsukishima. They knew they wouldn’t be able to keep it a secret for long, but they would enjoy the few days to prepare themselves to face the wrath of Ukai, Daichi, and Takeda.

It was something exciting, to have to wait until they were alone and then go all at once. Everything still felt fresh and new, Hinata definitely wasn’t used yet to the sight of a completely naked Kei (and he suspected that he maybe would never be.  _ How could be so hot? _ ) or how cute he looked when he just smiled. 

Sometimes, he had almost given their secret away, because it was hard to turn off the switch of having free liberty to touch Kei, to be around him and joke. 

It helped that at least his mom and Natsu knew the truth, he had talked to them alone in his room through Skype and told them the news. They had been excited and fully supported him. Natsu had practically jumped with excitement, saying how she loved Kei and he was nice. Hinata had to remind her that she couldn’t say anything about him and Tsukishima nor that he was dating anyone. 

He was a bit worried about how Kageyama would react however. His best friend knew too well that he was bi, having suffered enough hearing about his sex life, but this was different. Tobio wasn’t Kei’s biggest fan.

xxx

Kenma wasn’t dumb. He had noticed that Kuroo had been acting strangely around him for days. He had chosen to wait patiently for him to work out whatever was on his mind.

So he wasn’t surprised when Kuroo had decided to say something when it was just the two of them on the couch, after a very long day of work.

“Hey, Kenma?”

“Yeah?”

Kuroo almost lost the courage to say anything, but then he remembered the nightmare and the texts that had woke up him on that day. He had to know. Even if he lost Kenma, he had to know if his heart belonged to someone else.

“What would you do if I said that I like you?” he asked and he could swear he could hear his heart coming out. That was it. His whole life would be ruined now.

“Say I like you too,” he answered calmly, though he was happier than he had ever felt.

“No, but I mean in a romantic way,” Kuroo awkwardly explained, wishing Kenma wasn’t so innocent.

Kenma would roll his eyes, if he wasn’t freaking out with Kuroo's words, he had understood it very well. He wasn’t a child.

“Say I like you too, you idiot,” he said, smiling.

“Oh,” Kuroo said.

He then turned to look at Kenma. He wasn’t prepared for the intensity of his eyes. He had thought that he knew everything about Kenma, but he had never seen him like that. 

It was his widely open grin that convinced him that he was about to do it was a good idea, though. He closed the space between them. Their kiss was calm, barely a touch.

Maybe if it were anybody else, Kuroo would have thought that it was bad, too soft. But with Kenma? This went beyond all his dreams. He was seeing stars. 

Yes, he would like to do  _ many _ things with him, but he didn’t want to rush it all. His lips were the best thing he had ever tasted. 

They distinguished themselves, each one wearing a wild smile. Kuroo grabbed Kenma’s hands and absently-mindedly played with it.

“There was no way that I could not like you,” Kenma said, just to make things clear. “You are my everything,” he said, his voice almost a whisper. He had never shared something so personal, yet so true. 

He couldn’t imagine even having breakfast without Kuroo anymore. If he was totally honest there were just three things that they usually did without each other: shower, sleep, and use the bathroom. The rest, they were around each other. Kenma was sure that if it was anybody else he would feel suffocated, but Kuroo? It was like an extension of himself, in some instants. 

“You’re my everything too, darling,” Kuroo replied, feeling at home. 

xxx

Kei wished he could say that he could kiss Hinata whenever he wanted. The truth was far from it. Just now he had realized how they were surrounded by people 24/7 (and he wanted to kill every single one of them). There was always someone watching them and he felt his irritation rising as he was obliged to pretend there was nothing going on with them. 

He hadn’t expected this to be so bad, honestly, he thought only Shōyō would be affected by it, but it was. He wanted to explore every inch of Shōyō’s body, to hear him scream and beg for more. He also wished to do silly things, like run together and just talk. He would even take one dinner with his family. 

“Why can’t we run off?” he suggested as they finally managed to be left alone in Kei’s room. It wasn’t a real proposal because he liked his life the way it was and he also knows it wouldn’t solve anything.

Still, he felt mildly disappointed when Hinata only stared at him, not taking his idea seriously for one second. He was handsome and famous enough that he could convince someone to run away with him, thank you.

“Fine,” he grunted. “Can I at least punch the King?”

“What one thing has to do with the other?” Hinata asked, confused. 

“Nothing. Except it would make me happy”.

“Kei…” he said amused.

Kei sighed, even if he smiled after it. He didn’t think he would ever grow tired of hearing Hinata’s say his name. 

“Don’t you think there is something else I could do to make you happy?” Hinata offered, with a smirk. 

There was no way that Kei wouldn’t take this offer, so he joined their lips without hesitation and gladly forgot everything about his bad mood.

xxx

Hinata was tired, so tired. His body hurt so much that he almost regret everything he had done with Kei (almost, because there was no way that he could think something this amazing had been wrong). 

If he had a choice, he would remain there on Kei’s bed with him until he woke up and maybe even after. He would take his time with him.

But he knew he couldn’t. If he stayed there, there was a high risk that they would both oversleep and he would get them in trouble. He didn’t want to deal with how mad Ukai would be, especially after his drinking scandal. 

So, he got up and recoiled his clothes, which were still on the floor. He put them on and didn’t resist to turn his head and stare once more at Kei’s sleeping form. He looked so beautiful.

“I wished I could stay,” he said to himself. Then he remembered Kei’s words from earlier and added: “Or run away with you… Kei”.

He got closer to him and placed a kiss on his hair, refraining himself from kissing him. It was time to go now.

xxx

Kageyama was worried about his friend. First, Shōyō had distanced himself, spending less time with him, then he had gone out to drink alone and now he missed his time to wake up for long enough that they had all elected Suga to wake up them.

It hadn’t been a pleasant experience. Kageyama's defense mechanism to be wake up by somebody else than his best friend had been to throw the nearest object onto the demon that dared to wake him up. Suga had been hit directly by the water bottle and it hurt. 

Daichi had come running when he had heard Suga’s scream and had been mad enough with Kageyama to shout at him. For his tune, Kageyama hadn’t like at all to be blamed and had said a few nasty things back.

This had made things worse and they were all screaming with each other by the time that Ennoshita had dared to appear and demanded them all to shut up. They had calmed down enough to give apologies a few minutes after.

So, only when he was having his breakfast Tobio had time to think about how weird it was that the eternal sunshine was still sleeping. Stranger than that, only the fact that it was Tsukishima that had woke up him in the end, according to what Tanaka saw.

“Don’t you think the dumbass has been acting weird?” Kageyama asked Yamaguchi, who was having breakfast also.

They weren’t exactly very close, but they had bond enough through the years that he felt comfortable enough to ask that. 

Yamaguchi shrugged. Yeah, he guessed Hinata was slightly different, but he wasn’t sure. It was indeed odd that he had gone out to drink alone, knowing how much trouble he would get for it. He couldn’t speak to more than that, though. 

What he thought it was weird around here it was how Kei was happy. Of course, he wanted his friend to be happy and was more than glad that he seemed to be more than that in the last few weeks, but he couldn't understand where this was coming from. Nothing big had changed, after all. 

“I heard you hit Suga this morning,” he commented, knowing that it wouldn’t do well to raise his concern about his friend. 

“That wasn’t what happened,” Kageyama protested, getting red. 

xxx

Only two days later, Kei and Shōyō managed to escape from their roommates/friends by taking the trash out. It was far from romantic, but Shōyō didn’t care at all about it when he made Kei let go of the bag he was holding and kissed him.

“Shōyō, my hands are dirty,” Kei complained.

“Your hands just touched the bag, I don’t care,” Shōyō answered.

“Yeah, but I do,” Kei said.

He took all the trash and put on the garbage trash. His hands were still dirty, but at least he wasn’t literally standing with trash on his feet.

“What about we wash your hands first?” Kei suggested. 

Shōyō didn’t look happy, but agreed, following him as he got in the elevator. He pressed the button and within instants they were in the common area. Kei was happy to finally found a sink and cleaned his hands.

“Now I can kiss you?” Shōyō asked, as soon as he was done.

“Just… wait,” Kei said and closed the door of the bathroom.

xxx

Almost half an hour later, they got out of the bathroom, feeling much calmer and satisfied.

“Take me out, at least,” Hinata said. “It’s the least you could do”.

“You know we can’t do it,” Kei said.

He truly wished he could trough. He wondered how cute Hinata would look in a date, but he knew he would never find out.

“I know, but I’m hungry…” he complained, putting his hand on his stomach. 

He knew it was crazy but seeing Hinata, Kei wondered if there even existed another option than agree. So he did. 

“Fine. We’ll eat and then come back,” Kei said. “We also have to say why we took so long taking the trash out,” he said, already walking to a post he knew it had nice food (if they went to a restaurant, they would surely get caught).

Nobody, not even Tanaka, would believe that they were only doing that. They would need a cover story.

“We can say that we were catching up with a neighbor,” Shōyō suggested. 

“Nobody else lives on this floor,” Kei reminded him. “And I don’t interact for long with people I don’t know”.

“Okay, then, I got a call from my mom?” Hinata offered. “Hurt uncle?”

“It will have to do,” Kei shrugged.

They talked a bit more, before arriving at the post. Then they choose to focus on the food, with only now Kei realizing how hungry he was. 

Everything was going so great, with Hinata laughing so hard that it would attract the attention of anybody else near them, that Kei could almost fool himself, pretending that this was a date and that if he just waited long enough he could kiss Shōyō. 

But lucky was never on his side and he knew everything would go wrong in the moment he saw Miya Atsumu entering the restaurant and smiling as if he had just received the best gift ever as he saw Hinata. 

Great. Now he would have to watch Miya Atsumu flirting with Hinata. Everybody (on Karasuno) knew that they used to be a thing and don’t get Kei started on the awkward time he had caught them on the phone.

Sure enough, Miya had the courage to walk to them and not spare a glare to Kei before letting out a loud:

“HINA-CHAN!” 

His voice alone would be enough to annoy Kei. But he wasn’t happy with the way that Hinata also smiled upon noticing him, totally relaxed. 

“Oh, hi Atsumu,” he greeted. “How are you doing?”

Kei watched, incredulous, as Miya got even close to him and opened his arm to Hinata, who smiled and raised from his seat to hug him. At least, Hinata had the guts to send him a panicked looked when it looked like Miya wouldn’t let go of him. 

“So...” Hinata said, before breaking free from his grasp. “What are you doing around here?” he asked. 

“Well, I came to pick something to eat. You know the boys never buy enough food,” he said, smiling. 

“Oh, I know,” Shōyō replied.

Kei tried to control his expression as he heard them having a small talk, both of them looking happy and way too much comfortable with each other to his like.

“I miss you, Chibi-chan,” Miya said, not bothering to hide his intentions. “Maybe I could convince Oomi to put us on a movie together. So I could see you. Of course I rather it to be one with a lot of kissing scenes,” he smirked.

Maybe it was the way that Hinata got red with the suggestion or the fact he felt like a third wheel. But Kei lost it, not caring about anyone else, he just got up, walked until he was in front of Hinata and kissed him.

First, the only thing he felt was satisfaction (he got to do that, to show Miya that Hinata hadn’t anything with him anymore), then he felt fear as he noticed that Hinata wasn’t kissing him back.

Just as he about to stop and apologize, Hinata started to kiss him too, with the same euphoria that he was feeling minutes ago. He relaxed once more and pressed himself even more into him. 

When they stopped kissing, Kei had the smuggest of his life. He wouldn’t some ex-boyfriend or whatever got away with hitting on Hinata right in front of him.

“Hinata is already with me,” Kei smirked. 

Right now, the only thing he felt was satisfaction. 

“Is that true?” Miya asked, looking to Hinata.

The nerve of him! Didn’t he just saw them kissing? Hell, he would bet that if he had only kept going a bit longer then Hinata would start to moan. 

“Yeah. Sorry,” Hinata said awkwardly. 

“Don’t worry. I’m sure you grow tired of him soon enough,” Miya provoked. “Call me when you do,” he said before winking. 

Forgot what Kei had thought. He felt mad, so mad. Who the hell that Miya guy thought he was? Only because he had something with Hinata a while ago this didn’t make him want anything anymore! He was such a prick. Kei hated him. 

"Hum, okay. Say hi to Otsumu for me," Hinata said.

Only when he saw Atsumu already on his car did he let go of Hinata and what he had done drained on him.

He had kissed Hinata in public. Shit, shit.

He was so dumb, why had he done that? They hadn’t even told anyone in Karasuno yet… Kei was someone so rational, so why did he let himself be guided by those stupid feelings?

He tried to think about something to do, to fix this mess. There wasn’t anything.

“What did I do?” Kei murmured to himself, through Shōyō heard. 

"I’m not sure..." Hinata admitted. “But we both did. Now we have to hope that nobody saw”.

Sure enough, it didn’t look like there was anybody else there. But the life of an idol had taught them to not trust this because too many things had been revealed that were supposed to be secrets.

xxx

As soon as they got home, the two of them knew that they were in trouble. They opened the apartment door just to come face to face with Ukai, Takeda, and the other members. All of them were showing angry or disappointed expressions.

"Care to explain what is this?" Ukai said before shoving his phone on Kei's hand.

He didn't have to look to know but he did anyway, staring at himself and Shōyō kissing. The person had even edit a little bit, choosing to put in black and white, but it was definitely them (they sure worked fast).

This was the thing that he had been dreading the most since he had started having feelings for Shōyō.

"Weren't you guys taking the trash out?" Suga said dryly.

"Well, we did," Hinata offered quietly.

"Don't talk to him like that! Do you have any notion of the mess you two put us into? This is the worst thing that could have happened! The only thing that Karasuno will be reminded for now on it's your stupid kiss," Daichi said furious, this was all his life work coming apart and for what?.

Kei felt like he was punched in the stomach. He knew that he had screwed up, but he hadn’t thought that Daichi would react that way. He had never been that angry with him before.

"I wish I could say that he's wrong, but he is not. Karasuno will be forever seen in a new light. If you just say it's a prank or a dare, I can make it go away," Takeda said, worried about what turn things would take.

"No," Kei contested immediately.

He knew it was selfish, knowing it involved the whole image of the group, but he didn't care. He wanted Hinata on his life and he was tired of hiding. He knew that he would be caught on his lie soon or late if they kept pretending.

Hinata looked to him surprised. Kei had been so worried about this happening that he would think he would take the first chance to make this all go away. What he was trying to do now?

“It wasn’t a prank,” he said firmly, staring at Ukai. “We’re together,” he said simply.

“Is that it?” Ukai turned to Shōyō to confirm. 

Kei wanted to know why nobody takes his words that he was with Hinata. But now he has more urgent issues. 

“Yes,” Shōyō confirmed. “I like him”.

Even now, the confession made Kei feel happy. He smiled softly and watched Hinata do the same when he turned to him. 

Suga sighed, knowing that they were telling the truth. He was happy for them, but he wished that they had let them know about it before so that they could think about how to prepare the media. Now it would be pure chaos. 

“Great, just great,” Ukai said ironically. “Hinata, couldn’t you wait before making such mess again? This is will… oh God, I don’t know how to fix it,” he said simply, his words changing from anger to desperation. 

Shōyō looked at them guilty. He wished that this wouldn’t affect anyone, but he knew it would. 

"Don't worry, it will be alright," Noya whispered to Kei.

Kei looked surprised at him. He was smiling and didn't look mad anymore. He always knew that Noya was a cool person, but he had never thought he could count on him on times like that. 

“Thank you,” he whispered, not feeling as bad as before. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> The next chapter is probably the last one (except for the epilogue).  
> Please don't hate Miya, he truly cares about Hinata.  
> Also Daichi was mad because he thought they were only fooling around and not having actual feelings for each other.


	13. Together

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I lost the original chapter and had to do it basically from zero, so it ended up being way bigger than the original and I had decided to cut it into two. Also, because of that changes the line about the Asian tour in a previous chapter was excluded, because it no longer serves the plot.

The next day, as soon as he woke up, Hinata looked through his notifications, ignoring those who were from people he didn’t know, being able to imagine too well what they were saying. Many of his friends had tried to reach him, probably to congratulate him or ask him how he was feeling, but one made him stop. 

He didn’t know what to feel about the number of lost calls from Miya, especially because he had never done anything like that before. So the redhead hesitantly opened his messages and saw him saying that he was sorry, that he didn’t know about the camera and asking him if there was something he could do to help him fix this.

Without stopping to think if this was a good idea, Hinata pressed the dial button and almost instantly Atsumu picked up.

“Hey, Shōyō! I’m so-” he started to say.

“What do you want?” Hinata knew that he sounded rude and he wasn’t even that mad with Miya, but he was exhausted.

“Look, I’m so sorry for everything that it is happening,” he said and Hinata knew him too well to know he meant it. “I know it’s kind of my fault. Tsukishima wouldn’t have kissed you if I wasn’t there and hitting on you. So I’m really sorry about that. And I hate that you’re having to deal with this sort of thing. You know I would never hurt you intentionally,” he explained.

Hinata believed him. While they dated and even before that, Miya had never once been mean to him or anything like that and instead was set on making him smile. He also didn’t know he had anything with Tsukishima and there was no way he could have expected the other to do what he did. 

“I’m not mad with you because of it, Atsumu. I’m angry with you for what you said after Kei and I kissed,” Hinata explained, too tired to hold back. 

“What do you mean?” he asked, truly sounding confused. 

“The bit about calling you after I grow tired from Kei?”

“Oh,” Atsumu said only and then as he finally understood: “Wait. Sorry. It was kind of a shitty thing to say. I was just trying to say for you to keep your options open and I was also a bit mad, you know, so it came out wrong.”

“Hold on, why were you mad?” Hinata asked confused. Yeah, he knew Miya would get back with him if he could, but…

“It isn’t obvious? I know we broke up and agreed to remain friends and I swear that I don't think of you as anything other than my friend, except for that day when I was in Ontario. And you know why that place took me to another time,” Miya admitted. “But you were looking so beautiful yesterday and I kind of forgot how hot you were and I couldn’t stop myself from thinking that we could have a casual hook up, like, nothing serious, just fool around, you know.”

“I was surprised to see you looking so happy with some guy that you could barely stand before. Deep down, I knew there was something wrong with the way that you kept looking to him while you talked to me, but it just shocked me when he kissed you. It may sound silly, but it was only then that I realized how much of your life I’m losing and I felt so jealous of him. So I said something I knew it would get him mad. Sorry.” 

“Atsumu… I… I don’t know what to say,” Hinata replied truthfully.

“I’m sorry. I swear that I will accept if you don’t want to be friends with me anymore, but I said those things out of anger,” he said. “You know that I will always respect you”.

“But first you have to understand that what I have with Kei is real,” Hinata said. “I really am in love with him. And I can’t even think about looking at someone else and I don’t think that it will change soon,” he said honestly, thinking about Kei’s smile. “So if you don’t think you can stand only being my friend, say so now, because you can’t expect anything else from me”.

“I didn’t realize things were actually that serious with him, you know. I didn’t mean to stay in your way,” Miya admitted, guilty. “And of course, I can stand to be only your friend. No seconds intentions, I swear. I will even apologize to your pain in the ass boyfriend, if that makes you happy,” he offered.

“Please do… but over a text. I don’t think he will be too happy to see you,” Hinata said.

“But how are you? Suffering through hell? Please tell me if there is anything that I can do to help you two,” Miya begged. 

“No, thanks. I still don’t know what it's going to happen,” he said.

xxx

Kei wished that he could forget what happened last night. But there was no way that he could have kept out of his mind the hours talking with the whole group, trying to come up with an idea to save their image. 

He had made the mistake of reading some comments on the photos. Through they were the ones who were supportive, even happy that their ship happened, most of them weren’t. Not once or twice had he read someone saying that they were disgusting or who they should be with instead. 

Even the numbers on their accounts seemed to have dropped. And everyone was talking about it. At least they would make the number one trending on Twitter, again.

He wanted to scream with them for their prejudice, and their hypocrisy. How could they declare that Hinata was unfit on his life when he felt happier with him than ever?

He felt sick the whole morning and the only thing that got him through it, was his friends. They were handling way better than he had imagined they would and Tanaka and Noya had even made their fair share of jokes on him and Shōyō. 

Shōyō himself had never once left his side since they had woke up and he was more than glad for his presence around him. He had even kissed him a bit to show his appreciation. 

Then Ukai had dropped by their house, looking like someone who brought bad news. 

“Hi. How bad is the situation?” Daichi asked directly to him. 

“Bad. As you all probably already know, the number of followers you guys have has dropped, especially Tsukishima and Hinata. Also, our publicity team is doing the best they can to keep your image positive and erase the homophobic comments whenever they see one. But the real problem is that more than one sponsor has talked about withdrawing, not wanting to associate their image with us,” Ukai answered simply.

He couldn’t believe this was happening, he couldn’t believe he was destroying everything everyone had worked for. 

He opened his eyes and forced himself to look to all of the members' expressions, except for Shōyō. They all looked sad, but not mad, which made things worse. 

“We’ll think something,” promised Daichi, already planning what they could do.

“Hinata, Tsukishima. Can I have one word with you?” Ukai asked.

They only nodded and followed him to the kitchen. 

“I’m sorry for being so harsh yesterday,” he said. “I want you guys to know that you’ll have my full support. Yeah, things will be complicated from now on. But we will all make our best to turn things around,” he promised. 

“Thank you,” Hinata said, feeling real relief. He didn’t know how much he needed it until he heard it.

Kei only nodded, his mind too full to pay attention to the conversation. He only could think about his friends' expressions and how they didn’t deserve any of it. 

Ukai left, leaving him all alone with Shōyō. But he couldn’t stand to look at him. His mind went back to when they first met, to all the hours he had caught the other working his ass off, saying that he would be the best singer out there. How it had felt when they had shared the stage for the first time.

And what about Yamaguchi? He remembered his childhood friend gathering the nerves to confess to him that he wanted to sing, how he couldn’t let out a single word the first time that he had stepped on a stage and how he had closed himself to it until Kei had promised to go back there and sing with him.

He tried to keep himself composed as he started to make his way back to his room, but he knew he must have failed. He was feeling horrible, knowing it was all his fault. 

It all left him overwhelmed him enough that he wanted to cry. For the first time in years, he could barely hold back his tears. He had a strange urge to ask for protection (for whom he didn’t know, he just wished that someone would make this all go away).

He felt a hand touch him and turned his head to see that it was Shōyō. He looked worried at him, as if he knew what was going through Kei’s head. He should hate him, not pity him. He was the one to blame.

“Don’t,” Kei said coldly. He knew it was his fault. He was the one who kissed Shōyō, and he knew damn well what would happen if they were caught. Karasuno was in trouble and it was his fault.

Shōyō looked at him, hurt clear on his eyes. Kei didn’t stay there to see it, though, choosing to walk away and lock himself in his room, where he let all the tears fall.

xxx

Kuroo knew it was selfish, but he never been happier than when he saw the photo of Hinata and Tsukishima kissing. Now, he was sure that nothing was going on between Kenma and him on Kei’s side. 

But at the same time he felt terrible about it, because he was worried about what that would mean to Karasuno. He wanted to see Kei well and the other guys too. He knew that Kenma shared his worry too.

He was about to call Tsukishima to ask how he was holding up, when Kenma asked for everybody in Nekoma to gather around in the living room. He knew this had to be important; Kenma usually ran away from meetings.

“Guys…” Kenma started once all the members of Nekoma had arrived. “I don’t know if you heard but Karasuno is in trouble”.

“Why, because Hinata kissed Tsukishima?” Lev asked. 

Yaku hit him to shut him up.

“Yes. I have one idea,” Kenma said.

His face stayed serious as he explained what he had in mind, knowing that it was a lot to ask for. For once, nobody interrupted and they all seemed to agree with his idea.

“You know Nekomata will kill us, right?” Yaku pointed out.

Kenma nodded. He knows Nekomata would hate it and scream with him, and maybe it would make the media hate them too, but he didn’t mind. Shōyō was his friend and like hell he wouldn’t help him.

xxx

Hinata didn’t know if the others had said anything more about the sponsors, because he had left as soon Kei had stormed out of the room. 

He knew that in the future he would have to be there, to take responsibility for his actions and try to come up with a plan to save their image.

However, all he could think about now was Kei and how he had flinched away from him. It had hurt to see him doing that, not even when they couldn't stand each other had he done something like that. 

Of course, he knew that it was a lot to take in. He was involved in that too. He just wished that Kei would get through this with him, because it scared him that they weren’t okay right now.

Everyone wanted to know what they were and he didn't know what to say or to do. Kei had declared that they were together, but Shōyō also knew that he was thinking it was all his fault (it wasn’t) and was trying to push him away to punish himself or something like that.

Hinata closed his eyes, and just laid on his bed, hoping that all his problems would solve themselves. 

The only good thing was that his family had been happy with him. His mom always knew that he was bi any way and was more anxious for him to introduce Kei than anything else and Natsu was happy that he would be her new brother (he had tried to explain that didn’t work like that).

He heard a knock on his door, which was strange, and was tempted to make the person go way when he thought about how good his friends were taking everything and decided he could deal with it. 

“Can I come in?” Yamaguchi asked.

Shōyō was surprised, he was the last person he had expected to pop in.

“Sure,” he replied, opening the door.

Yamaguchi smiled awkwardly.

“I just thought that you should know… Kei always tries to keep everyone out when he feels bad. But you shouldn’t let him,” Yamaguchi said. “I bet he feels really bad for everything that is happening”.

Hinata sighed. He knew this. He knew… but it hurt anyway to be left out.

xxx

He was almost throwing his cellphone out, tired of seeing horribles comments and fights, when he saw that Natsu had sent something to him on Instagram. It was a simple heart and it made his day ten times better. 

Kei looked at it guiltily, thinking about how he had treated Shōyō. He knew he shouldn’t have done it, it was just that it was too much. How could he pretend everything was okay?

He heard a knock on his door and happily ignoring it. Anything could wait.

“You better open this door or I’ll destroy it,” Kageyama threatened. 

Kei sighed. He was in a bad mood already, he didn’t need the King coming here to blame him. 

“If you don’t open your door, I’ll call your brother and say how a pain in the ass you’re,” Kageyama said, with a voice that was not even a bit amicable. 

Kei didn’t doubt for one second that he would. And this was the only thing that he could think that was worse than he was facing right now - Akiteru was probably mad with him already by the number of calls he was currently ignoring from him. 

So, he got up and opened the damn door, coming face to face with Kageyama. He closed the door once he entered the room again. 

“You’re the last person that I would choose to date Hinata,” Kageyama said. “I think you’re an arrogant, know-it-all, mean person”.

 _So sweet_ , Kei thought ironically. 

“But… I have noticed that Hinata looks happier these last weeks. You’re good to him. So stop screwing up and see that he is in this shit with you,” Kageyama said. “After his father, he feels really bad whenever he thinks someone is leaving him on his own. So don’t do that,” he instructed.

Kei felt even worse. He hadn’t considered that with Hinata’s story, he would feel that way. Did he make him feel that it wasn’t their problem? He would never kiss him and let him alone to deal with the consequences. He wanted everybody to know that they were together.

It seemed that there were a lot of things that he hadn’t thought about. He would never have imagined that Kageyama would go there, to put some sense on his mind. He was a better friend to Shōyō than he had always given him credit for. 

“Thanks,” he forced himself to say.

“Don’t mention this to anyone,” Kageyama said and hurriedly left his room.

xxx

Kei knocked at Hinata’s door right on the time he was about to step out. The redhead looked surprised to see him there, but he smiled and that calmed Kei’s heart a little bit. 

“Hey, can I come in?” he asked. 

Hinata nodded and he locked the door after Kei got in. 

“I’m sorry,” Kei started. “I wasn’t trying to push you away,” he said. “I was just feeling guilty”. 

“For having kissed me?”

Kei nodded. 

“You don’t have to, you know. Yeah, it was you that kissed me in public, but hey, we both know that I would let something out, anyway. I was never good at keeping secrets,” Shōyō shrugged. “Just, please, don’t push me away, I can’t stand it”.

“Ok. I’m sorry. Whatever happens, we’ll deal with it together,” he promised. 

“Together,” Shōyō agreed, his heart calming down now that they were okay. He smiled as he hugged Kei.

The blonde smiled too, feeling safe now that he was involved in Shōyō’s arm. He knows he would still blame himself, but Shōyō was right. They were in this together and somehow that made everything less scary.

"I'm sorry," he repeated. 

Shōyō smiled, before closing his eyes and kissing him. It helped Kei to calm down and forgot about their problems. He was smiling softly, eyes still closed, when he grabbed Hinata to embrace him once more, happy to be there. 

"It's okay. I'm here with you," Shōyō promised. 

Kei knew and loved him for that. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> About the negative comments that the boys get once they are together: There are indeed many hateful comments whenever an idol starts seeing someone romantically (even if there are those who are happy and supportive). It was already revealed that some times idols/groups even have to sign a contract agreeing to not date anyone or to keep it a secret. Add that to the fact that the couple here is gay (and it's very difficult to find an idol that has admitted to not be straight) then you can imagine the problem.  
> But there are many happy replies and fans glad that Tsukihina happened, it's just that the boys can't really see that now, too focused on the negative part.  
> If you want to know more about it: http://www.koreaherald.com/view.php?ud=20181102000297, https://www.quora.com/Which-if-any-K-Pop-artists-are-openly-gay, https://www.mirror.co.uk/3am/celebrity-news/k-pops-first-openly-gay-21148723.


	14. Love is love

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Kageyama refuses an offer. Friends help Hinata and Tsukishima and things get better.

Kageyama hated that place. If it was up to him, he would have never step there, but Ukai had advised him to go. 

He controlled his disdain when the lift door open, trying to remain neutral. He managed to show no expression when he saw Irihata and Mizoguchi entering the meeting room.

Only because he was polite and had an image to keep, did Kageyama lift up to say hi. 

“Kageyama Tobio, what a pleasure to see you here,” Mizoguchi Sadayuki said, offering his hand to shake.

Kageyama took it and then made the same with Irihata, before they all took their seats. He prepared himself for what was about to come.

“I’m so glad you could make it,” Irihata Nobuteru said.

Kageyama only nodded. 

“How’s Ukai doing?”

“He’s good,” lied Kageyama, thinking how his manager seemed about to explode dealing with Hinata and Tsukishima’s scandal.

“Good. Since I know you, I think it’s better if we go straight to business,” Kageyama nodded, he truly appreciated it. “You’re an amazing singer, Kageyama. And I think your talent is being wasted on Karasuno.”

Kageyama hands tightened into fists. Wasted? Karasuno had been what had shown his talent. Before, he could sing well, but never with emotion. He had been so worried about perfection that he had always forgotten emotions.

Karasuno was the light that always guided him whenever he was lost. When he was feeling down, Suga and Daichi were always there to help him. And how many times did he joined Hinata, Tanaka and Noya pranks?

“You would do well in our group. You know that I offered to you before, but this time you should take it,” Irihata said.

“Don’t worry about the contract,” Mizoguchi added. “We’ll take care of it. We’ll cover all the taxes and handle the press news when you decided to be a part of this group”.

Kageyama felt his anger raise even more with this. They were talking like it was no big deal, as if Karasuno wasn’t right beside him through the last _years._

“What about Oikawa? Did you tell him that you’re offering me this?” he asked.

“Yes. As a matter of fact, he should be joining us soon enough”.

Kageyama wanted to laugh. He could imagine very well Oikawa’s reaction to him being a part of his group. He must have tried everything he could think to stop it.

“I won’t leave Karasuno,” he said firmly.

He was trying to keep calm, but he couldn't. Just because they had a setback, he wouldn’t abandon the people he loved. He would never leave his best friend alone in what must be the most terrifying moment of his life and to think that those people in front of him thought he would do just that infuriated him. 

Too busy with his own range, he didn't notice Oikawa entering the room.

“Come on, Kageyama. You’re smart. You know that your group is done,” Irihata said. “I don’t have a problem with people being gay, but let’s face it. You guys won’t be able to make any money”.

“No, we’re far from being over,” he replied, hoping that it was true. "I came only because of my respect for you, but I won't leave Karasuno," he said, before standing up.

Kageyama had no way to know, but this made Oikawa look proud to him, for the first time ever.

“Just think about…” Irihata pleaded.

“No,” Kageyama interrupted him. Then he finally noticed Oikawa: “Oh, you are here. Bye,” Kageyama said to him, before finally leaving the place. 

It only lasted a few minutes and he felt about to explode. He would never leave his friends for something like that. 

xxx

**NEKOMA, AOBAJOHSAI AND FUKURODINATE COMES TO RESCUE KARASUNO'S GROUP**

_44 minutes ago_

A photo of Hinata Shōyō, a member of the famous group Karasuno, kissing Tsukishima Kei, also a member of Karasuno, has leaked to the internet, making an uproar. But now it is clear where other famous groups stand about it: they are publicly supporting them.

Karasuno is a group with a wild reputation, but it is also a crowd-pleaser. They weren't known for romantic scandalous though, and the members had often said that they don’t have time for it.

But last week a fan managed to snap a photo of Hinata Shōyō and Tsukishima Kei kissing, to the shock of their fans. They still hadn't commented about it, but internal fonts revealed that due to their exposed relationship, Karasuno is facing some trouble.

In a surprising turn of events, Kozume Kenma (one of Hinata's closets friends and member of Nekoma) decide to protest against the prejudice they are suffering, posting the following picture:

kenmakozume Liked by **bokuto1** and **others**  
**kenmakozume** Sorry if this makes anyone mad, but I have a few things to say. I saw people saying and writing a few nasty things to my friend @hinataofficial and tsukishimaofficial and I think those people should be ashamed of themselves. Shouyou has never hurt anyone and neither did Tsukishima. It shouldn't be a big deal if he kisses someone. This won't change him and it shouldn't change you too. Stop harassing him. Karasuno has my full support. #shoyo #loveislove View all 6148 comments 23 minutes ago

The rest of the Nekoma members (Kuroo, Kai, Haiba, Yaku, Yamamoto, Fukunaga, Inuoka, Shibayama) also followed his example and posted the same picture with their own texts, ending with a post on the official Instagram of the group.

More surprisingly, Oikawa Tooru, from Aobajohsei, was the next one to post it too with a big text, declaring how much he supported Hinata and Tsukishima. Aobajohsei followed him and Fukurodinate was the next one. 

Karasuno has yet to talk about the scandal. We give them our full support!

xxx

Shōyō smiled when he saw Kenma’s post. It meant a lot to him. He knew how much Kenma loathed social media and attention in general (he avoided it as much as his idol life let him, basically just doing group appearances). But he had to know that his post would throw him right in the hurricane. 

It made his heart feel harm and he felt like things could be okay. There it was, his best friend saying that he would never change only because he likes some guy. Kenma had no obligation of standing by his side like that, yet he did.

He didn’t read the comments, knowing too well what he would find, and not in the mood to read cruel accusations. 

xxx

Ushijimaaa   
@aushijimafan   
I'm so proud, that's why he is my fav  Akira Leah ✔ @akiraleah A quote from my last interview with Ushijima: "I don't understand why Hinata liking a guy would change anything. He's the same powerful singer that I know and respect". #loveislove. Wait for Monday for the rest!  ❤ 775 3:09 PM - 5 May 2014  45192 people are talking about this 

xxx

**Love is Love Unit Idols Groups**

Following Nekoma’s example, many other idols groups have shared the now-iconic _love is love_ image, about Hinata Shōyō and Tsukishima Kei (members of Karasuno) relationship. 

Shiratorizawa, Inarizaki, Kamomedai, Mujinazaka, Fukurodani, Date Tech, Niiyama, Johzenji, and Tsubakihara joined the party, among others. They all posted with their officials accounts the image, sometimes with a little text.

Besides the post on Oikawa Tooru’s Instagram, he said on his Twitter how happy he was that “Chibi-chan” (as he calls Hinata) had found somebody even if it was Glasses-kun (Tsukishima). 

Also, Bokuto (from Fukurodani) posted a video on his personal Youtube channel, singing his congratulations to the couple and at the same time adding random facts about Tsukishima on it. The video ends shortly after Akaashi’s voice appears.

Overall, the groups seem to be getting positive feedback, with fans mostly engaging the campaign and offering support to Karasuno. It has even become a fever that is catching up with other celebrities and even revealing some couples, such as the dancer Amelia Chase and the pianist Gabrielle Torn.

xxx

Suga thought he heard the doorman wrong when he said that Oikawa Tooru was requesting to go to their apartment. Maybe it was Bokuto or Kuroo pretending to be him, for whatever reason. It made more sense than the man willing to show up there without warning previously.

Still, Suga opened the door like it was a bomb and waited to see how it was there. To his surprise, it was indeed Oikawa, looking as handsome as always. 

This only served to raise his suspicions. 

“Easy there, tiger,” Oikawa said. “I came in peace”.

Suga looked at him distrustfully. Not once had Oikawa come to them with seconds intentions, especially when it was about Kageyama, his so-called kouhai. 

“What the hell are you doing here, Oikawa?” he inquired. “And where is Iwaizumi?”

If only Iwaizumi was there, Suga would be more comfortable, since the other always helped to stop him from doing something crazy. On his own, Oikawa was totally unpredictable. 

Oikawa looked offended by this. Everyone seemed to think that he was crazy without Iwa-chan and it wasn’t entirely true.

“I only came because I think there’s something you should know. And Chibi-chan too. By the way, where are the love birds?” he looked far too much interested in the idea of seeing Hinata and Tsukishima.

If Suga had a choice, he wouldn’t let them met, but right on that instant, he saw the two of them and Kageyama entering the live room. They didn’t waste a second before joining him. Just great.

“Oikawa-san?” Tobio inquired, looking like he saw a ghost. 

Tooru smiled and for once, it was a real smile, not his camera one. 

“Hello, Tobio-chan!” he greeted. “And Chibi-chan! Glasses-kun”.

“Oikawa, why did you support Tsukishima and Hinata?” Kageyama asked, before anyone else could say anything. “Irihata must be out of his mind”. He wouldn’t want his group supporting one that he thought it was doomed to fail.

“He was crazy mad,” Oikawa confessed. “But it was too late when I saw what I did,” he shrugged. 

“Thank you for that, Great King!” Shōyō said, smiling. 

“Yeah, thank you,” Tsukishima added. 

“What are you doing here?” Suga asked, still unsure of what the other was planing. 

“Well, you see. I’m just passing by to let you know what Kageyama did. You should be glad to have him as a friend, Chibi-chan,” Oikawa said.

Huh?, it was all Tobio managed to think. He was totally confused. What the hell was Oikawa trying to do? Why would he go there just to say it? 

“Kageyama refused to join my group, just to be with you guys,” Oikawa revealed. 

Suga looked shocked at him. He hadn’t heard anything about that and wondered why he hadn't. This was the type of thing he should be aware of! But if it was true, he was so proud of Kageyama. He knows that things weren’t looking good to Karasuno, but he still stuck to them.

“What do you mean?” he asked just to be sure. 

“Exactly that, Refreshing-kun. He was offered to be a member of Aobajohsai, but he rejected it,” Oikawa said with a smug voice, as if he was the one responsible to make the decision.

“Kageyama!” Hinata looked at him, smiling brightly. “You did that?”

“Yeah, I wouldn’t leave you, idiot,” Kageyama said awkwardly. He hadn’t meant to the others know, it wasn’t a big deal. 

“Thank you, Tobio,” Hinata replied, softly. 

Kageyama looked surprised at him. It was rare to hear him calling him that. 

“Well, now I can go,” Oikawa said. He had come there just to say that because he thought Karasuno deserved to know how loyal Kageyama was. He truly hadn’t any other hidden agenda, not this time. 

“Wait,” Kageyama stopped him before thinking this through. “You can stay a little bit. If you want,” he offered, shyly. 

Suga looked at them surprised. He guessed he would never totally understand what went through Kageyama and Oikawa, but they looked like they were okay now, so he guessed the rival could stay. 

“Oh, okay,” for once second even Oikawa looked lost, as if he didn't know what to say or do, then he recomposed himself. “You have to show me your room, I bet it’s a mess. Mine is better, for sure,” he bragged.

“You wish,” Tobio snorted, before leading him to his room. 

Suga looked around, expecting to have Kei and Shōyō support of how random this was, but he found them already entertained with kissing each other. He sighed, this was a crazy world. 

xxx

Karasuno knew they could only keep quiet for so long, so they were deciding when and where would they address to the press the photo of Tsukishima and Hinata. 

The situation was far better now that other groups had supported then and Ukai managed to calm down most of the sponsor, but still wasn’t far from safe and they had to come clean about the status of Hinata and Kei’s relationship.

"I don't think all of us should go," opined Suga, raising protests from Tanaka, Kageyama, and Nishinoya.

"Right now, we managed to get the press on our side, thanks to the other idols," agreed Ukai. "We can't afford to lose that".

"And we all know that some of us would jump to defend them, but it would do more damage than help. Kageyama, Tanaka, Nishinoya, Yamaguchi, I think you should stay out," Takeda said.

"Maybe only Daichi, Hinata and Tsukki should go, then," Ennoshita pointed out.

"No," protested Asahi and Daichi at the same time. 

"Suga should go too," the leader continued. "He is the best to do damage control".

"And it would help me to be calmer if he was there," Hinata admit it.

“Okay, I’ll go,” Suga smiled.

“Then it’s decided,” Ukai agreed. “Now lets what are we gonna say…”

xxx

**Karasuno breaks the silence about Hinata Shōyō and Tsukishima Kei relationship!**

At a press conference, Karasuno has talked about the infamous relationship of two of the members, Hinata and Tsukishima, that were caught kissing.

Their leader, Daichi, was present with Suga, Hinata and Tsukishima. They greeted everyone with smiles and started addressing the issue that everyone wanted to know.

They confirmed that the photo was indeed Tsukishima Kei and Hinata Shōyō kissing. According to them, they didn’t know who took the photo and they didn’t mean for it to go online. Then they talked about the relationship rumors. 

_“We are together,” Tsukishima announced. “I like Hinata. Very much. We have been engaged in a relationship for a few weeks before the photo, and we were still taking our time to say anything, because we didn’t want to hurt our fans if we decided that it wouldn’t work out. But now you all know how special he is to me“._

Daichi promised that their relationship won’t affect their songs and that Karasuno has welcomed them with open arms. Suga even said that he would keep an eye on them to make sure they weren’t just fooling around.

_“As Tsukishima said, I like him,” Shōyō declared. “I’m sure that I will never find someone like him again in my life. I know I can count on him. I couldn’t stop myself from falling for him. So, I really hope that all my fans that are disappointed with me or afraid of what will happen with the group if we fight can support me on this one, because I know I’m making the right choice. I can’t promise that we will stay together forever as a couple, but as a friend and colleagues? yes, I can. So don’t worry.”_

After Shōyō’s passionate talk, they let the reporters questions to them, which led them to deny any involvement between any other member in the group. They also confessed that they started to talk more recently and they aren’t sure where they want to go as a couple yet. 

The Idol Life magazine wishes the best luck to them!

**xxx**

It has been a few weeks since Tsukishima and Hinata had opened up about their relationship. Things were different, for sure. 

It was great to finally be able to kiss each other whenever they wanted and their fans had grown used to see Shōyō sharing at least one photo or video of Kei on his story and the blonde one posted some too. 

Their first date went pretty well, with them having a great dinner and watching a silly movie (Kei had spent the whole film leaving ironic comments to Hinata who was unable to control his laugh). They had been stopped by a couple of fans, that seemed to be dying from seeing them on dates and rambled on and on how they were the perfect couple (Shōyō secretly agreed).

Also, Kuroo had talked to Kei and confessed what Akaashi had done and how he thought for weeks that he was after Kenma. Kei still hadn’t run out of jokes about it, though he had at first reassured him that no, he wasn’t interested in Kenma and it was obvious that the boy liked him.

All this time, through, Kei had been afraid to speak to his family. He had never told anyone there that he was gay and he wasn’t very optimistic about how they might react. 

“You know, you’ve to talk to them one day,” Shōyō said quietly as he saw him staring Akiteru’s name on his phone.

“I know,” Kei agreed, then hesitated.

“What is, love?” Hinata wondered.

“Can you stay with me, as I do it?” he asked.

Hinata smiled. He was still amazed by much Kei seemed to need and trust him. It was difficult for them to open up about the things they were afraid, but they were slowly learning how to do it.

“Of course,” he said, putting his head above Kei’s shoulder. 

“Hi,” he said as soon as Akiteru picked up his call. 

He could hear his heartbeat as he tried to stop thinking about how mad his brother would be. Kei knew he had made everything more difficult, but after a whole life hiding who he was, it was hard to come clean.

“KEI! So you’re alive?” Akiteru teased. 

Kei sighed.

“Yes,” he said only.

He waited, hoping that Akiteru would say something more, he was the most talkative of the two of them. His brother didn’t say anything at all. So he was mad.

“Did you see the photos?” Kei asked finally, when the silence stretch for too long. 

“Yes,” his brother replied. 

Kei felt Hinata embracing him and he held him tightly, using him to gather the courage he needed to say those words he thought he never could. 

“I’m with him. He’s my boyfriend and I…” he stopped, almost saying he loved him. He hadn’t said those words to Hinata yet, but it was true. “I really like him,” he said. 

“I’m so proud of you,” Akiteru said.

“You are?” Kei asked surprised. 

“Yeah, of course! I want to meet Hinata. He must be something else if he managed to be your boyfriend,” Akiteru said, happily.

“Yeah, he is,” Kei said smiling softly, feeling like a weight has been lifted from his shoulders. 

“But next time don’t pretend you’re dead,” Akiteru scolded him. “Do you know how worried I was about you?”

“Yeah, yeah,” Kei rolled his eyes. 

He talked a little more with his brother, but ended up getting distracted by the way Shōyō was looking at him and finished the call. 

“Don’t do that,” Kei ordered to Shōyō. 

“Do what?” Shōyō asked innocently. 

“Look so… loveable,” Kei said.

Shōyō laughed, not believing what he was hearing. 

“Is that a thing somebody even says these days?”

“Shut up,” Kei replied, with no real heat. 

“Ok, ok. I’ll do my best to not look loveable,” Shōyō promised, before trying to imitate a threatening face. The effect was totally lost on him.

Kei smiled. Yeah, there was no way that Shōyō could ever stop being loveable.

xxx

Kei didn’t know to expect from Hinata Aika. He had heard good things about the woman through the years and knew that Shōyō loved her very much, but that was about it.

“Oh, you look nervous. So cute,” Shōyō said, mocking him. 

Kei shot him a look to him to warn him to not do this right now. Yes, the truth was that he was nervous. He wanted Hinata’s mother to like him and didn’t have a lot of experience with things like that.

At least, Natsu would be there too and he knew that she already liked him. He had talked to her a lot these days whenever he caught Shōyō doing a video call with her. 

“Don’t worry, she’ll love you,” Shōyō said, taking his hands and holding it tightly. 

Kei smiled, reassured now. He could do this.

Turns out, he didn’t have to worry. Aika looked like she already loved him, receiving him as if he was a lost friend and easing the tension by sharing embarrassing stories from when Shōyō was a kid. 

In a couple of minutes, he had already forgotten that he was trying to impress her, and was just having fun with the family. Natsu showed him her newest game and he pretended to be impressed by it, even playing with her. 

Kei had also loved the proud smile Shōyō had gave him just because he offered to clean the dishes after they had finished eating. Aika didn’t let him at first, but gave in, going with him.

“I’m glad that he found you,” Akira said quietly as she threw water in the dish. “I never have seen him this happy”.

“I’m glad too,” Kei confessed. 

She smiled, but before they could say anything else they were interrupted by Shōyō, who asked what embarrassing story she was telling him no. Of course, that made her started to do just that.

Only about one hour after it, was that they left the house, promising to call Natsu. Kei was feeling very content and thoughtful as he thought about the meeting. It had gone well and he couldn’t wait to see them again. 

He was brought back to earth when Hinata, who was driving took one hand off to turn up the volume of the song it was playing. Kei smiled as he recognized Idol from BTS. It was kind of ironic.

“ _You can call me artist_ ,” he sang along with Hinata. “ _You can call me idol_ ”.

“I love this song,” Hinata said when it finished. 

“Me too,” Kei agreed. “Maybe we can get to do something like this in your next album…” he suggested. 

Hinata got excited and shared a thousand of ideas he was having for the next album. One that sounded truly interesting, was a two-part piece that one of it would belong to Karasuno and the other to Nekoma, that he was developing with Kenma. 

Kei smiled. He didn’t know if they would get Ukai and Nekomata to agree to let them to that, it would have to involve the groups signing specific contracts, but it would have been fun if they did do that. He missed Kuroo and couldn’t wait to mess up a bit more with him.

But even if it didn't happen, it wouldn’t matter to him. Because he was happier than he ever thought he could. 

He didn’t know if Shōyō felt the difference in the atmosphere or the change in the mood of the song, starting to play Little do You Know by Alex & Sierra, but the boy kept quiet suddenly. 

“Thank you,” Hinata said when he was starting to get worried and was about to ask if there was something wrong.

“What for?” Kei replied surprised.

“For being you,” he answered simply. 

The strangest thing of it all, was that he understood what he meant. He was also glad that Hinata was who he was, because he was madly in love with him and knew that nothing would change that. 

“I love you,” Kei told him, the words that had been on his mind a lot lately, but he never did manage to say.

“I love you too,” Shōyō asked, then laughed: “I was really hoping I could kiss you after I said it”.

“Don’t worry, I’ll kiss you a lot,” Kei promised, smiling.

He didn’t know how his life turned like this. But for once, he was truly happy and he suspected that he would be as long as Shōyō was there too.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So, that's it. The next one is truly the epilogue and I'll miss the story, but I'm happy with it. I hope I did it justice and I'm kind of curious about what you guys think the epilogue will be like (I won't have any energy to change it, but it would be fun to hear your ideas).  
> Also, who noticed that Tsukishima is singing for fun now? 😊  
> Fun fact: the whole story started when I was obsessed with hearing Idols by BTS and the idea popped in my head.


	15. Epilogue

**_3 years later_ **

“Kei, where are you taking me?” Shōyō asked for what had to be the nth time. 

He was getting anxious, since he was blindfolded and couldn’t see where they were going. It wasn’t like he didn’t trust Kei, he was just curious and anxious about why his boyfriend had done something like that. Kei was more romantic than he had expected, but he still wasn’t a big fan of surprises. 

“Shōyō, I already told you that you won’t get me to say it. We’re almost there anyway,” he said. “Oh, don’t you like this song?” he asked, trying to change the subject and using the fact that Shōyō had remained quiet. 

“You know I don’t,” Shōyō answered, making drama.

“Fine. I’ll skip it,” Kei said and so he did.

Hinata started to sing again and he smiled when Kei joined him. He loved a lot of things about his boyfriend, but it still felt amazing every time he sang along with him. Kei’s voice was incredible and he always relaxed after singing. 

“I love you,” Shōyō said, after the second song came in. His tone sounded innocent. Kei wasn’t deceived by it.

“I love you too. But I know what you’re thinking. And no. We’re five minutes from there, just wait,” Kei said.

Unlike his promise, it still took them three more songs to get Kei to announce that they had arrived. Shōyō was blindingly trying to take off his seatbelt when his boyfriend leaned to him and did the work.

Kei kissed the top of his head briefly before leaving the car. Shōyō was complaining alone and about to take off his blindfolding when Kei opened his door.

“Don’t take it out yet. Just trust me,” he said, before carefully helping him to get out of the car.

Hinata was still trying to guess where they were (no luck, the only thing he could gather it was a strange smell that he couldn’t quite place) when Kei finally took out his blindfolded. Before noticing anything about the whereabouts, the thing that drew Shōyō’s attention was Kei’s eyes. How could they be so beautiful and full of love?

He was already smiling when he finally looked around. Oh. They were on a beach. It was a beautiful day and the sea looked particularly stunning _.  _ Hinata recognized that place, he had been there many times and, in the last years, so did Kei. It was also the same beach that they had sang Bon Jovi together for the first time.

“Oh, Kei, I loved it! It has been a couple of months since we went to the beach,” Shōyō said happy, joining his lips with his boyfriend's.

They kissed for a while and Shōyō thought that would be it, that Kei’s surprise was a day off from everything, but then Kei took a step back and looked all serious to him.

“Shōyō, I've known you for a really long time. I’m not going to lie, I didn’t like you at all at the start,” he said. 

“Why are you talking about this?” Hinata asked confused. 

“Shh, love. Let me talk. But that was before I really knew you. When I got to know who you truly were, there was nothing in this world that could’ve stopped me from falling for you. Not that I would’ve wanted that, because these last years had been the happiest of my life. I’m totally crazy about you and I just love everything you do,” Kei said and Hinata was already holding back tears. “I think I’ve known for a long time that I want you to stay forever in my life. And boyfriend just doesn’t seem enough for what you are to me or how much I love you. Will you marry me?”

Hinata stared at him with total shock. When he had woke up that day, it hadn’t crossed his mind that he could be anything more than Kei’s boyfriend. Yes, he had secretly thought about it multiple times, for so many different reasons (watching Kei talk to Natsu, he cooking for him, he asking him for his help, etc) and even thought about asking him, but never had found some way that felt like it was right for them.

Now, as he looked at Kei and the beach that was a part of their beginner, he thought that it was perfect. He started to cry, unable to control himself. He was just so happy and couldn't believe this was happening.

“YES!” he shouted. “Of course I want to marry you,” he said and then he laughed.

He was probably looking crazy, but it didn’t matter when Kei hugged him so tightly that it felt like he might break his bone before kissing him deeply. Hinata kissed him back and made his own share of holding him, with tears still dropping.

**_7 years later_ **

As Kenma suspected, being in a relationship with Kuroo was as easy as breathing. They had taken things slow at first, somehow scared that they would ruin everything by trying too hard, and maybe that was the right thing to do, because it ended up being an easy transition from friends to lovers. 

Kenma had watched closely what had happened with Shōyō once the news of his relationship with Tsukishima came out and it marked him enough that he had come with a plan with Kuroo about their own relationship. 

They had chosen to share the truth with the other members and kept the physical part of their relationship reserved for their home. Their friends looked out for them, helping them to hide it, by being doing their fair share of things that looked a bit gay with them whenever the truth was too close to came out. Like, after one day that Kuroo had almost kissed Kenma as a reflex response, ending up touching his lips, Lev had jumped to kiss him too and everybody still joked about that. 

Kuroo and Kenma parents knew, of course. They had always known that they liked each other anyway, so it hadn’t come out like a shock. They still had to sign a lot of contracts to keep it quiet, though. 

Besides them, there were only four persons in the world that knew: Shōyō, because Kenma couldn’t bear the thought of lying to him; Kei, since he was Kuroo’s friend and Shōyō’s boyfriend anyway; Bokuto, because Kuroo sometimes needed someone to help him deal with Kenma close off personality, and Akaashi, because, c’mon, he would’ve figured out on his own and he had helped them from the start. 

It was easy to feel the love that Kuroo had for him and Kenma liked to think that he could also feel his love too. 

This didn’t mean things were perfect. It was hard to keep a relationship when to the outside world, you’re very famous and very single. More than once, fans had thrown themselves at them and they had to do their best to keep their deny polite. 

They didn’t fight a lot, used to each other by now, but when they did, it was ugly. They knew how to hurt each other. There were days that Kenma locked himself in his room and had to pretend that he was sick, because he couldn’t get out of bed. Sometimes, it was Kuroo that given in, others he did. 

Still, he wouldn’t change it for the world. 

But he knew some things indeed were about to change. He knew that he was getting older and he also knew the boys knew it too. They made enough success that they could still stand for two more years, more or less, and they would enjoy the rest of the time. But they were also tired - they had been at this life for more than they could remember and they had already done pretty much everything, broke tons of records, sang about everything, met everyone they wanted, gained money. 

It hadn’t been simultaneous but slowly they all had come to the conclusion that this was the right decision: it was time to dissolve the group. That didn’t mean that they wouldn’t stay friends, because they were a family already. 

There was just one more thing that Kenma wanted to do with them, one more final thing. He wanted to everybody know that he was with Kuroo. He was excited to spend the rest of his time as idol free, even if by doing that he ended up shorting his time as an idol. The other members had only cheered when he and Kuroo had come with the idea. 

“Hey, darling, are you sure you want to do this?” Kuroo said, his face already all covered in makeup. 

“Yes. Now is the time,” Kenma said, also prepared for their show. 

It had started as many of their shows did. They sang, danced, gave their soul to the presentation. The crowd went mad with them and that warmed his heart. He felt more than ready to do his move when the last song came. 

“So, for tonight we’ll have a special ending,” he heard Yaku say, with a smirk. 

Kenma could feel his hands sweating.

“In my life, I have found a person that it was there every step of the way with me,” Kenma said through his microphone. “He has been my light. He has become my partner. My everything. Kuroo, I love you,” he said, facing his fiancée.

Kenma could barely hear anything with the thousands of screams coming from their fans, but he didn’t need to hear Kuroo to understand his reply. He was smiling widely and he took a step closer to him and ended any doubt anyone had by kissing him on his lips. 

Yeah. Life could be good.

“I love you too, Kenma. I’m proud of standing here with you today, with all of you. Nekoma made me who I am and I love you guys,” he said, and he totally destroyed his badass image with the tears that he was dropping. 

Kenma didn’t care about it at all, especially when all the other boys corned them and they all hugged. 

xxx

“Did you see that Kenma finally admitted that he is with Kuroo?” Shōyō commented to his husband. 

“Yes, it was about time. Kuroo was this to close to threatening him to tell the truth,” Kei replied amused. He had watched through the years as they managed to keep their relationship a secret, something he himself hadn’t been able to do for more than a couple of weeks. 

“Can you imagine being like that all this time?” Shōyō shivered. In many ways, he was glad that he was found out soon. It had been hell the first couple of weeks and everything looked like it was coming to an end too soon, but it had all worked out and at least he hadn’t to pretend nothing had changed when everything was different. 

"No," Kei admitted. 

“By the way, Miya said he would drop by later,” Shōyō casually mentioned, knowing the reaction that he would gain.

Kei growled. He still didn’t like Miya Atsumu and he didn’t think he ever would. It wasn’t even about Hinata anymore, since the man had apologized by all the trouble he had caused and stopped hitting on him once he had realized things were serious, and it has been a few years since he started to date Sakusa. It was just that the man was too sure of himself. 

“I swear you two would get along well if you idiots just stopped being childish,” Shōyō said. 

“He started it,” Kei offered weakly. 

“Yeah, no childish at all,” he rolled his yes. 

But Hinata had given up a long time ago.  Of course, he would like if they got along well, Atsumu was important in his life, like it or not. But he could deal with it. Kei already got along with pretty much everyone else on his life - not that he had ever stopped to trade insults with Kageyama - and that was what mattered to him. 

“What are you two discussing?” Oikawa interrupted them.

Just to confirm his suspicions, Shōyō looked around and saw Kageyama and Iwaizumi trailing after him, with a lot of bags. They had probably gone shopping again. 

“Don’t you two have a home?” Kei asked instead, directing it to the Aobajohsai members. 

“Why would we stay there when we could easily come here?” Oikawa said with as much grace as someone could while stealing a strawberry that was in the table.

“Ei, that’s mine,” Kei said, and tried to steal it back, but Oikawa was too fast. He ate it.

“I swear that Kageyama room looks more like yours than his,” complained Hinata. 

Oikawa grinned to him. 

“I was needing a little more of space,” he said as an explanation. 

Kageyama snorted, but he didn’t complain.

Shōyō thought about how weird this whole scene would look years before, but now he didn’t even bat an eye to it. After his whole mess of being discovering dating Kei and Kageyama refusing the spot on Aobajohsai, his best friend had finally fixed his issues with Oikawa and Iwaizumi. 

And once Oikawa had decided that he liked Kageyama again, he just wouldn’t leave him alone. Their fans had been crazy about it for a while, but even them had grow used to see them as much attached to the hips as their busy lives and crazy schedules allowed. 

Of course, it wasn’t just Oikawa. Somehow, Iwaizumi had been dragged on this mess too. He came there so many times that one day Daichi had only sighed and gave him a key to a spare room that they theoretically kept for guests. 

“What mess are you doing in my kitchen now?” Suga asked, appearing in the kitchen too.

“Nothing, mom,” Shōyō answered with his mouth full of strawberry. He used to hate this fruit, thinking it was too sour, but he got curious by how much Kei loved it and had tasted again. Somehow he had become addicted to it too.

“Gross, stop talking when you’re eating,” Kageyama complained. 

“Don’t be stupid, you do this too,” came Shōyō's reply. 

Before he could say anything more, they were distracted by Yamaguchi showing up. The age had done him well, in fact, he was more handsome than he was at the start of his career. 

“Can you all kept quiet?” Yamaguchi said. He had also become less afraid of speaking his mind. 

“I saved you a seat,” Kei offered. 

His best friend gladly took it. 

“I only came to grab a glass of water, but I will call the others since you’re all here,” said Tanaka, appearing and disappearing so fast nobody reacted.

Indeed, he came back a few minutes after it with Nishinoya, Asahi and Ennoshita. 

“Oh, we’re having a pajama party?” asked Nishinoya.

“If we are, I have to call Lev!” Shōyō said excitedly. 

He knew that the show they were doing was the last of their tour and it was very close to where they were. Maybe they could swing by.

“HINATA, DON’T,” screamed Daichi, already calculating all the trouble that he would have by putting all of those crazy people together. 

“But he was very hurt that we didn’t call him on the last one,” Hinata said, turning to Kei to make his puppy eyes. 

Kei sighed, he knew there was no way he could win this battle. So, he only nodded and took his own phone to text Kuroo.

“I don’t care, I won’t have anybody creating excuses to not go to work tomorrow…” Daichi was saying. Kei didn’t hear the rest. 

“Kuroo is coming over. He’s bringing the rest of Nekoma,” he announced, putting his phone back to his pocket. 

“Hey, if they are coming, I will call the rest of my guys,” Oikawa protested. 

“This isn’t your house,” Suga reminded him. 

“Lies! I have a room here!” he said dramatically.

“No, Iwaizumi has,” Daichi corrected him.

Iwaizumi sent a smug grin to him. 

“Fine. Tobio, can I keep your room?” Oikawa said.

For one second, Shōyō was worried that Kageyama would actually say eyes. Then he smiled sweetly.

“No,” he declared. 

“You’re no fun,” groaned Oikawa.

“But you can call the rest of Aobajohsai, whatever,” said Kageyama faking indifference. 

In the corner, Suga talked to Daichi about how problematic their children had become, that he didn’t raise them for that.

“At least it’s only them,” Daichi consoled him, trying to keep him positive. Yes, they were all crazy, but they knew how to deal with them.

“Actually, did I say that Atsumu is also coming here?” Shōyō shyly added. “He is probably bringing Sakusa with him”.

“Oh, for Christ’ sake,” Suga said. 

“Hey, if everybody’s coming, I have to invite my girlfriend,” Tanaka said, before calling her. 

“Good idea! I’ll do that too,” Noya said before texting his own girlfriend. 

Daichi facepalmed himself, knowing that he had completely lost control of the situation. 

One hour later, they were all squeezing to fit the room, but nobody seemed to care as they laughed. It had taken three more hours to say their goodbyes and all of them knew that they would regret staying up so late in the morning, but it was worth it. 

In fact, they had stayed up for so long that Kei had actually fallen asleep in the middle of a conversation.

“Come on now, it’s time for you to go to bed,” Shōyō said, dragging Kei with him. 

He let out giggles as he watched his husband having trouble to do something so simple as brushing his teeth. He had learned a long time ago that Kei really didn’t work when he was too tired and almost forget his own name. 

He carefully put him in the bed, before getting himself ready to sleep. He was surprised to find that Kei was still up when he did that, having expected that he would have collapsed a long time ago. 

“Why are you still awake?” he asked. 

“Waiting for you,” he answered simply. 

Hinata smiled. 

There wasn’t a moment that he forgot why he loved Kei, but if it did exist one, moments like this would be his reminder of why. For as much as complicated as he was, Kei never stopped caring about him. 

“Hey, Kei?” he asked softly.

“Yes?” Kei answered lowly, his voice affected by sleepness. 

“Will you stay with me forever?” Hinata already knew the answer to that one. He could say that he knew since Kei proposed, but the reality it was that he had known for much longer. Kei would never leave him, the same way that he would never leave Kei.

“You don’t have to ask. I will,” Kei said. “Now go to sleep,” he commanded. 

Hinata laughed, but obeyed. He had a very happy dream that day. 

\- The End - 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So, this is the end of the road for this fic. Maybe, just maybe, I'll do some one-short with others characters in the same idols universe, but it won't be focused on Hinata, Tsukishima, Kozume or Kuroo.  
> Anyway, I want to thank you all for all the support, kudos, comments, suggestions. This story was a challenge for me (and believe or not, when I first start writing It I was trying to do a one-short around 3k, then the story kept getting bigger) but I'm so proud of what has become and I'll miss it.


End file.
